When I first read a collection of Thomas Friedman's columns, gathering his post-9/11 musings, I realized what had been nagging me about his writing for years--he is a generalist. More so than most mainstream columnists, he talks about the big picture, and somewhat repetitively too. My love for columnists Frank Rich and David Brooks stem from the fact that they love to ferret out new books, new trends, interesting people, and other narrow topics to make their larger points. Friedman, on the other hand, seems to appeal to a basic news format of using quotes from prominent people and reports to increase the appeal of his broad strokes. Yet, despite this tendency, I still often enjoy what he has to say, because it is clearly stated. Case in point, today's "Run Dick, Run" column in the Times.

"Instead, Mr. Bush seems to be governing as though he were on a permanent campaign - much like Bill Clinton did. But Bill Clinton was on a permanent presidential campaign. Mr. Bush seems to be governing as if he were on a permanent primary campaign against John McCain in South Carolina.

So far, the second Bush term, to the extent that it has any discernible agenda, seems to be to cater to the far-right wing of his party - period. It's been urgent midnight meetings about Terri Schiavo and barely a daylight session about energy."

He understands that one of the largest problems the Republicans face is not that they as a party are failing, but that their leader is leading their more moderate majority off into the wilderness without a compass. Regardless of what you think about President Bush's policies, it is becoming indisputably clear that people no longer believe he is on the right path in anything except for a narrowly defined "keeping America safe from terrorists," which polls show is no longer considered by most respondents to include the mess in Iraq.