Krauthammered?

The somewhat unfortunately-named Charles         Krauthammer has just  published yet another         column telling the Republicans that they  don't         have to worry about Pat Buchanan. (Washington         Post 7/7/2000 – currently here.)

It's odd that someone you don't have to         worry about still  requires such extensive         denunciation. But Krauthammer is  certainly         telling a lot of Republicans what they want to          hear. This will no doubt make up for the fact         that his record  is no good.

I've only met Krauthammer once, at a         conference in 1994  organized by John O'Sullivan         in the days when we were both  writing for National         Review. (See item above).  Krauthammer is         often described as a Canadian (he grew up in          Montreal although he was born in Uruguay) so I         took the  opportunity to ask him what he thought         of Quebec separatism. He  grandly assured me it         was dead. This was of course the  conventional         Canadian establishment view–very much like          the conventional Washington view of Pat Buchanan         today.  Krauthammer didn't ask my opinion, as I         recall, and I didn't  tell him that I had         written a book arguing the direct opposite. (The         Patriot Game; Canada and the Canadian Question         Revisited, 1986. You can get the gist here. )

But I did go on to give a presentation based         on my forthcoming immigration book, Alien         Nation.  Krauthammer didn't seem very happy         about it. He didn't speak to  me again but told         O'Sullivan something to the effect that my          arguments needed to be expressed in a different          "language." Spanish maybe?

The point of this story is that the following         year Parti  Quebecois held a referendum in Quebec         on separation and came  within an ace of winning.         The shock was devastating. In its  wake, numerous         prominent Canadians – for example, Conrad          Black, proprietor of the National Post – finally         began to say the unsayable: Quebec's         separation is only a matter of time.

Among them was, guess who, Charles         Krauthammer. Even more telling, in the November         3 1995 Washington Post he actually         bemoaned that Canada should break up over "an         issue as relatively trivial as language."

An issue as relatively trivial as language.         I don't  blame Krauthammer for being wrong         about Quebec. (Well, I do  wonder how he can         continue to sound so cocksure about  everything).         He was, after all, just reflecting the          conventional wisdom. But he was indeed wrong,         spectacularly, and  for a characteristic reason:         he cannot or will not appreciate  the reality,         and the utility, of the national community to          the peoples among whom he lives.

It's a fatal blind spot. To Krauthammer, it         is literally  inconceivable that anyone should         question (as he put in on July  7) "the great         post-World War II multilateral institutions          (such as the World Bank         [!!!] and the World Trade         Organization…)" Or immigration, about which          as far as I can see he remains invincibly         ignorant - in  any language. I wouldn't even         trust his opinion on Uruguay.

So, Republicans, don't be surprised when         you find yourself  standing in the cold listening         to Pat Buchanan take the Oath of  Office,         accompanied by an honor guard of Arizona          ranchers, native-born computer programmers,         black janitors and  assorted patriots. You'll         be able to read how it was all  inevitable (and         probably your fault) in another Washington         Post column by that brilliant Charles         Yankhammer.