PAGING AESOP! PAGING AESOP!
or
"wolves, ostriches, and now this"

News departments of major papers need infusion of animal metaphors stat!

Former Daily Nexus editor Brendan Buhler noticed some synergy of metaphorical citation between Ron Brownstein of the LA Times and John F. Harris of the WaPo. In short, both of them must have copied off my notes in PS 189 last spring (if this is the case, then God help them).

First, Brownstein's "Why 'This Is About Bush'":

Half a century ago, the philosopher Isaiah Berlin famously separated intellectuals and artists into two categories: the fox, who is clever, creative, committed to many goals; and the hedgehog, a creature driven by a single unwavering conviction. By Berlin's standards, Bush has produced one of the purest examples of a hedgehog presidency.

And Harris' "The Choice: Opposing Instincts About Leadership:

The vivid contrast offered by Bush and Kerry is in many ways a recognizable one for students of leadership. In 1953, British philosopher Isaiah Berlin wrote an essay, "The Hedgehog and the Fox," that has been studied for years by historians. Playing off an ancient Greek proverb, which held that "the fox knows many things, but the hedgehog knows one big thing," Berlin wrote that most people gravitate by instinct and habits of mind to one style or the other.

I suppose Berlin isn't the most obscure contemporary political philosopher out there (sure beats Huntington though), but perhaps it's enough to wonder whether Harris had the dreaded combo: a hangover and a deadline. Hey, that's what the entirety of UCSB is going through right now.

Buhler offers his own visual representation of what animals the candidates embody:



Is it just me, or does Bush look like a man with an enlarged prostate trying to urinate?