The Duck of Minerva

A cliché….

by Dan Nexon

3 October 2008, 0343 EDT

it is bad enough that our professional pundits feel compelled to tell us what “average Americans” think, but do bloggers really have to imitate this particularly insipid form of analysis?

The polls give it to Biden. As dubious as these “snap” surveys are, I think they’re a better indicator of what your average (undecided) American thinks.

I don’t have any profound insights about this debate. I thought McCain won on points last week, and I think Biden won on points tonight, but by a slightly larger margin than McCain did against Obama.

I already posted my favorite line of the debate below.

… But I have to admit that I’m a bit flummoxed by the notion that all those greedy bastards on Wall Street deserve to be regulated by a government that should get out of the way of business and reduce their taxes.

This is hardly Palin’s fault, though, as she has to walk the fine line between class-war populism and pro-private enterprise conservatism. In the old days, politicians resolved this tension by blaming the Jews. I, for one, am sure glad that’s off the table.

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Daniel H. Nexon is a Professor at Georgetown University, with a joint appointment in the Department of Government and the School of Foreign Service. His academic work focuses on international-relations theory, power politics, empires and hegemony, and international order. He has also written on the relationship between popular culture and world politics.

He has held fellowships at Stanford University's Center for International Security and Cooperation and at the Ohio State University's Mershon Center for International Studies. During 2009-2010 he worked in the U.S. Department of Defense as a Council on Foreign Relations International Affairs Fellow. He was the lead editor of International Studies Quarterly from 2014-2018.

He is the author of The Struggle for Power in Early Modern Europe: Religious Conflict, Dynastic Empires, and International Change (Princeton University Press, 2009), which won the International Security Studies Section (ISSS) Best Book Award for 2010, and co-author of Exit from Hegemony: The Unraveling of the American Global Order (Oxford University Press, 2020). His articles have appeared in a lot of places. He is the founder of the The Duck of Minerva, and also blogs at Lawyers, Guns and Money.

Website

Daniel H. Nexon is a Professor at Georgetown University, with a joint appointment in the Department of Government and the School of Foreign Service. His academic work focuses on international-relations theory, power politics, empires and hegemony, and international order. He has also written on the relationship between popular culture and world politics.

He has held fellowships at Stanford University's Center for International Security and Cooperation and at the Ohio State University's Mershon Center for International Studies. During 2009-2010 he worked in the U.S. Department of Defense as a Council on Foreign Relations International Affairs Fellow. He was the lead editor of International Studies Quarterly from 2014-2018.

He is the author of The Struggle for Power in Early Modern Europe: Religious Conflict, Dynastic Empires, and International Change (Princeton University Press, 2009), which won the International Security Studies Section (ISSS) Best Book Award for 2010, and co-author of Exit from Hegemony: The Unraveling of the American Global Order (Oxford University Press, 2020). His articles have appeared in a lot of places. He is the founder of the The Duck of Minerva, and also blogs at Lawyers, Guns and Money.

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