Kathy G. has a nice introduction to the work and talents of Tom Geoghegan, one of my favorite writers. If you've not followed any of my previous exhortations to read Which Side Are You On
, follow this one. It's an extraordinary, beautiful book. But I'll have to dissent from Rick Perlstein's (joking) , follow this one. It's an extraordinary, beautiful book. But I'll have to dissent from Rick Perlstein's (joking) attempt to float Geoghegan for Secretary of Labor. As a general point, I think liberals -- and political folks more generally -- tend to think of nominations too much in terms of "who is awesome" and not enough in terms of "who can manage a bureaucracy well." But running a department is a whole lot more like running a non-profit than it is like holding terrific opinions or writing beautiful books. The trick is picking the steel-eyed bureaucrat who reads and honors those same books. What we need isn't Tom Geoghegan at Labor. Rather, what we need is a fan of Tom Geoghegan at Labor.
