Lost in America

Bob Herbert is leaving the New York Times. Rather abruptly, I might add. Herbert's last column is today. He's leaving with what might be his best column ever. Do read it all, but this graf sums up so much:

The U.S. has not just misplaced its priorities. When the most powerful country ever to inhabit the earth finds it so easy to plunge into the horror of warfare but almost impossible to find adequate work for its people or to properly educate its young, it has lost its way entirely.

Herbert was a weird columnist. I don't entirely disagree with the many who complained his work was predictable to the point of being boring. That's because he was stating facts and stats most of us already know and his academic style didn't lend itself to the jazzy analogies so beloved by the left. But the poor and disenfranchised had no stronger or respected voice speaking for them. Thinking it's a greater loss than many realize. One that will become more apparent over time.