I’m actually looking forward to reading the David Remnick biography of Obama. Remnick can be infuriatingly partisan sometimes, but he’s a fantastic writer and tireless reporter, so I figure the book’s worth checking out. But I find Douglas Brinkley to be one of the most insufferable, cloying, over-striving suck-ups in American intellectual life. His review of Remnick’s book does nothing to change my opinion. But he does break exciting new ground. By simultaneously buying every trinket of liberal conventional wisdom, while sucking up to both Remnick and Obama, he proves that it is in fact possible to have your head up three asses at the same time.