Jul 18 2007
The New Jesus
James Fallows, writing in The Atlantic Online, discuses Iraq, Gen. David Petraeus, and the New Jesus Problem:
One memoir of life at the New Yorker under its founding editor, Harold Ross — maybe it was James Thurber’s The Years with Ross, maybe Brendan Gill’s Here at the New Yorker — described the concept of the “New Jesus.” Everyone who has ever worked in an office will recognize the idea. The New Jesus is the guy the boss has just brought in to solve the problems that the slackers and idiots already on the staff cannot handle. Of course sooner or later the New Jesus himself turns into a slacker or idiot, and the search for the next Jesus begins.
Fallows goes on to argue that Petraeus, a serious and very competent man, is getting the full New Jesus treatment. But, as things continue to go to hell in Iraq and not even Petraeus can stop it, he will become the next fall guy. This is an article worth reading.