Gerard Baker: finally, a British Tom Friedman?

From Crooked Timber:

"In the course of an article arguing that a large vote for Obama is not a vote for his policies (and, equally curiously, that the total and utter failure of conservative policies is not in and of itself a reason to try something else), Gerard Baker, who is to Thomas Friedman as Ricky Valance was to Richie Valens, says..." (emphasis mine).

Thomas Friedman is .. Richie Valens? Coincidentally, the publication of Tom's latest book is colloquially known as "The Day that Coherence Died", though these types of slurs on Tom's good name are repudiated by the fact of the mustache.

Testimonial to the Mustachioed maestro

I am always grateful to see that Tom's talent does not go unappreciated in this digital age of ours. I am also comforted to see that it is now widely recognized that Tom's mustache is the fount and wellspring of his counter-intuitive and earth-shattering visions of contemporary life in a connected age of roaring trade within the electronic jungle.

"Amazing. Tom Friedman is a God. No, not a God so much as a moustachioed force of nature, pumped up on the steroids of globalization, a canary in the coalmine of an interconnected era whose tentacles are spreading over the face of a New Economy savannah where old lions are left standing at their waterholes, unaware that the young Turks—and Indians—have both hands on the wheel of fortune favors the brave face the music to their ears to the, uh, ground."

Kieran Healey, Crooked Timber

Friedman shows familiarity with Alasdair Macintyre

"The first rule of holes is when you’re in one, stop digging. When you’re in three, bring a lot of shovels"

(Imbalances of Power, May 2008)

Questions for Friedmanites: is the shovel preferable to a (i) hatchet, and (ii) scalpel? And are the number of shovels a linear function of the number of holes one finds oneself in?

The origins of the mustache: Episode I: "He who wears it understands"

Dial "M" for Mustache

Introducing the mustache: the 6 month gift card