By Ankush
For those of you who have been in awe of the truly fantastic ideological diversity of Time magazine's columnists, here's some legitimately good news: According to New York magazine, the indefatigable Samantha Power -- human-rights activist, journalist, professor, and adviser to Barack Obama -- is going to be a foreign affairs columnist for Time.
Power is about as good as it gets -- a conscientious and deep thinker who, on even her worst day, could put Bill Kristol and Charles Krauthammer to shame. She also had the foresight to oppose the Iraq war, which, as we all know, typically means that you're never to be heard from in the traditional news media. To be sure, this column won't make her the next Arthur Schlesinger, Jr., but it's a glimmer of hope for those of you who, like me, shared Ezra's lament last week about the serious dearth of public intellectuals today.
Alas, it being Time and all, it's not entirely clear whether any of the other people who'll be getting columns once the magazine relaunches will be selections as astute as Power. The only other new columnist New York has the goods on is the insufferable, tragically unfunny, strangely durable Joel Stein. According to Time's managing editor, Richard Stengel, Stein is "a god to people in their twenties and thirties." As someone in his twenties who has never once heard anyone mention Stein's name in a face-to-face conversation, let alone revere him as a god, this was rather startling news to me. (Many of you will remember the infamous column in which Stein asked his readers to refrain from contacting him. Depending on your interpretation of the piece, it revealed either that he was a pompous jerk or the world's worst satirist.) But if it takes a Stein to get a Power ... well, things could definitely be worse.
