By Ankush
Just what I need on a Saturday, before I've had any time to get my bearings and read less upsetting news: Andrew Sullivan is leaving Time for The Atlantic. I'm not sure what Atlantic editor James Bennet is thinking, to be perfectly honest, nor am I entirely clear on why Sullivan has such staying power in the ranks of the punditocracy. It was unfortunate enough that Sullivan had such a prominent place at a respected outlet like Time, but now this?
True to form, Sullivan, in his farewell post, can't resist the urge to paint himself as a person of grand, world historical importance:
[I]t will, I hope, be part of something bigger as well: a voice in a new conversation, dedicated to the American idea, of no party or clique, in pursuit of freedom, national progress, and honor. Come along, will you?
That bloated, self-important prose alone should be enough for The Atlantic to renege its offer. Can this man please stop pretending he's above the political fray? He called Susan Sontag and everyone else with the foresight to oppose the Iraq war traitors, appeasers, and cowards. (And no, I don't particularly care that he apologized.) His very responsible war commentary has most recently taken the form of probing the upside of a more intensive civil war. While editor of The New Republic, he lent credence to a racist, pseudoscientist hack. He still touts his publishing of "No Exit" as some sort of accomplishment, despite its well-deserved reputation as a grossly inaccurate piece of garbage -- so much so that when Franklin Foer took over at the helm of TNR, he published an editorial apologizing for it. (No mention of that in Sullivan's bio.)
Meanwhile, I'm going to count this as another strike against Bennet, though there is an upside for someone here. Mark Steyn -- whose "Post Mortem" column for The Atlantic remains about as lifeless as its subjects -- now has serious competition for most ill-conceived hire.
