David Leonhardt writes the Morning newsletter for the New York Times. He used to host a Times podcast, The Argument, and listening to him there I decided he was the most useful person in journalism, because he is a perfect avatar of our leadership class.
I found listening to him think out loud utterly maddening in a way that listening to out-and-out left-wingers wasn’t. He’s soft-spoken. He’s practical. He’s liberal, but not a leftist. Fundamentally, he believes in markets and our Constitution, and his belief is reassured by how often these things work against Republicans. He thinks the media has a bias against Democrats, holding them to higher standards than Republicans. Sometimes leftist positions make him really uncomfortable, but if going against them in any sustained way would make him look like a conservative, well he just sort of . . . doesn’t, because he doesn’t think of himself as one of those gross people. He’s sane and, if you hadn’t noticed, he’s going places.
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