In this piece Hitchens brings in the personal alongside the analytical more than he usually does, which distracts somewhat from his greater point -- that the challenges this president-elect will face did not end when he passed the 270 mark last week. Still, he shows himself again to be a sharp, eloquent arguer and an enemy of intellectual laziness. This is a splash of cold water on the post-election glee.

Hitchens gets points for putting Obama's victory in historical perspective, as well as being a sober voice in all the jubilant celebration. However, he doesn't really bring any new information to the table, nor any original ideas.

It certainly presented as an opinion that damned well better be taken as authoritative, but that's Christopher Hitchens, the aristocrat. One almost sees a nose tilted high and a pair of eyes looking down upon the reader, whoever he or she may be. He must be feeling a bit raw himself from hanging his ass out of the car at 50 mph. But he's right, and his argument is sound. I have seen much worse from the conservative conservatives who are in mourning. Yes, yes, yes, we all know that Obama isn't superman, and that he will walk into the same meatgrinder other presidents have with the effect of being as severely eroded as Hitchins' ass. We are all scared shitless by the prospect of poverty, starvation, war, and relegation to ... More »

Hitch is always fun to read even when he is totally full of shit. He's the quintessential contrarian and a master of the snark, which is worth the price of admission right there. His perspective is always unique and usually he has some historical facts to back up his story, as well. This is however a guy who has gone from far left to far right and then who knows where. He can't figure out from day to day what he really believes...although he has consistently supported the occupation of Iraq, possibly because of his skeptical view of religion, theocracies and Islam in particularly. In this piece, he makes some interesting points about Obama's election but then swerves off into the same unwarranted certainty that we ... More »