Love your blog. I'm constantly in awe of how well you cut to the core of the matter, clearly and succinctly. This is one of my favorite posts. Thank you.

FYI. The link to BBC doesn't work in the U.S. (It celebrated physical inadequacy as well as athletic endeavour.)

In a recent debate (don't recall which one, there's been so many), Romney was asked whether he would release his income tax returns as his father did in 1967, setting the precedent for such disclosure. Romney's expression was amazing; his features softened at the mention of his father's name, and suddenly he was no longer Romneybot. Pundits need to be careful when comparing 1967-1968 to 2011-2012. Tumultuous doesn't begin to describe those years. I was 14 years old and devastated when Robert F. Kennedy was fatally shot immediately after winning the California winner-take-all primary in June, 1968 (just two months after Martin Luther King's assassination). Among the general populace, the most popular Republicans were moderate Yankees (Nelson Rockefeller and George Romney). I'm still not sure how Richard Nixon got the 1968 Republican nomination, but his closest competitor was George Romney.

Why don't those in power who are against this costly Afghanistan folly emphasize that it's a landlocked country, which means our supply lines are *dependent* on other countries (e.g., Pakistan) to get materials in and out of the country? A better analogy would be Laos, another landlocked country, which did suffer our meddling during the cold war era. We need to get out of the war business and start focusing on our country's future by investing/subsidizing efforts that will pay off in the near and long-term future (education, infrastructure, incentives for those young people most at risk). Thousands of lives sacrificed, billions of dollars wasted; the nightly news should be responsible enough to air a short clip of one KIA every night until the public pressure to get the heck out the war business becomes a priority that the military cannot continue to justify.

Wow. Wonderful post. As someone who is (Mad Men's) Sally Draper's age, I'm surprised that people who weren't born yet are even remotely interested in that era. Maybe it's a British trait, with rock 'n roll from that era existing as background noise. Here in the U.S., not so much. I stopped listening to the radio in the 1970s because there was virtually no rock on the air (think disco).

Barack's mother always looks so protective of him in all of the pictures I've seen. It couldn't have been easy for her, and it's heartbreaking to think of how joyful she would have been to see him elected president she'd be 68 now). I truly believe that the "birther" nonsense would never have picked up steam if she were alive today (mom and apple pie & all that). Unfortunately for all Americans, this vacuum has allowed our media to feed Trump's ginormous ego. The bright side is that "the Donald" has pushed Sarah Palin off of the American public's radar, and they will soon tire of his yelling and egomania. Just like with Sarah Palin's whiny victimization, who could possibly want such a bellicose president?

Niall Ferguson was on "Morning Joe" today. 11-minute, 34-second video (don't know if accessible outside US): http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3036789/ns/msnbc_tv-morning_joe/ Notably, after Niall's interview was over, Joe Scarborough made the offhand comment that he thought that Niall didn't believe the things he said. I agree; I've seen Niall a few times before, but I was taken aback by how agressively he made such points as: To Mika Brzezinski, co-host: "You could be forgiven for thinking that [viewing last week's Egypt results favorably]" (how generous of him) At around the 3 minute mark, he sounds like Glenn Beck, vigorously contending that the Muslim Brotherhood stands for the "imposition and enforcement of Sharia law and the restoration of the caliphate." At the 7:30 mark he pompously relates how he was at a security conference in Tel Aviv last week, and was surrounded by people dismayed by the amateurism of the Obama foreign policy team. Finally, he says Obama has the potential to be worse than Bush, who achieved "some success in Afghanistan." When the program returned after commercial break, Joe jokingly asked if Niall would be allowed to return to the Harvard campus.

Ian, Is the "fox rather than a hedgehog" a British idiom? Are hedgehogs bold? They look very cute (and tiny) in the pics I've seen. Sadly, no hedgehogs in California. Barring cataclysmic natural disaster(s), events unfolding in Egypt will surely launch the biggest stories of 2011.

Ian, I don't know if UK viewers can watch MSNBC videos, but last night's 14-minute Rachel Maddow opening segment was an eye-opener for me. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/26315908/ns/msnbc_tv-rachel_maddow_show/#41283983 She's so good at supporing her arguments. In this case, she convincingly persuades that Obama has shifted public perception of what the "center" is, and its to left of where the "center" has been perceived for years. I especially appreciate what she has to say about Eisenhower. Mark Knoller (CBS Radio) tweeted late last year: http://www.twitlonger.com/show/7q26vk On Thursday 30th December 2010, @markknoller said: Most noteworthy recess appointments: Pres. Eisenhower made 3 recess appointments to the US Supreme Court including: -Chief Justice Earl Warren (1953) -Associate Justices William Brennan (1956) -and Associate Justice Potter Stewart (1958). Each later received Senate confirmation. This is remarkable! Warren & Brennan were the liberal lions of the 20th mid-century Supreme Court.