By this, we usually mean Henry Kissinger. Or Dwight Gooden. Or Charles Krauthammer. But what about Bill Kristol? He is my guest on Q&A. We talk about a great many things, stretching from parents to great books (read and unread) to war to 2016 (a different kind of war).
Before there was 2016, there was, of course, 1964: Johnson versus Goldwater. Bill, age eleven, was reading National Review. He was convinced Goldwater would win. Before Election Day, his father broke the news to him: It wouldn’t happen. It was an early lesson, says Bill, in dashed hopes.
He and I talk about another Bill: Bennett, for whom Dr. K. worked in the Reagan Education Department. Bennett was absolutely dazzling (and still is, as his radio listeners can confirm). Sometimes Bill K. wonders what could have been, politically. Could Bennett have gone to the top?
I also ask Bill about another boss of his: Dan Quayle. Does it wound Bill when Quayle is mocked? It does. “It’s so unfair,” what they do to him.
The school-choice movement has failed miserably. Or rather, the public has failed, by declining to embrace it. Bill has always been a player in this movement. “Maybe we should have gone more radical,” he says. Consider the home-schooling movement: That has shaken things up a bit.
Years ago, another of the Dr. K.’s, Krauthammer, coined the phrase “Decline is a choice.” Does Bill K. agree with this? Yes — but points out that, once decline sets in, and you (the people) change your mind, it is very hard to reverse course. That is, to stop the slide.
This hour with Bill is really good. He is really good. Again, the link is here — and happy holiday weekend.