2010_7_5 upc_cover61404-postal.qxd 6/15/2010 8:20 PM Page 1 July 5, 2010 49145 $3.95 GET READY TO $3.95 Rob Long Ramesh PonnuRu The ediToRs 27 UNDER 17 REQUIRES ACCOMPANYING RESTRICTED PARENT OR ADULT GUARDIAN A Rahm Emanuel/ R For Strong Language, Incompetence Throughout David Axelrod Production 0 74851 08155 6 www.nationalreview.com base_milliken-mar 22.qxd 6/15/2010 11:32 AM Page 1 toc_QXP-1127940144.qxp 6/16/2010 2:00 PM Page 1 Contents JULY 5, 2010 | VOLUME LXII, NO. 12 | www.nationalreview.com ON THE COVER Page 29 Message: Andrew C. McCarthy on Turkey I’m Insecure p. 32 When a person emphatically declares something that sounds BOOKS, ARTS a little too specific, watch out. He’s not making a point; he’s telling & MANNERS you what he’s afraid you think of him, 44 HIS OWN DRUM Ronald Radosh reviews Hitch 22: A and he’s often correct. Rob Long Memoir, by Christopher Hitchens. COVER: ROMAN GENN 46 ON LOOKING INTO ARTICLES THE ABYSS David M. Smick reviews 16 THE OBAMA ENIGMA by Ramesh Ponnuru Crisis Economics: A Crash Disconnection from the main currents of American life turns out Course in the Future of to be a political disadvantage. Finance, by Nouriel Roubini and Stephen Mihm. 18 GOLDEN SPIKE by Stephen Spruiell On the dollar, hedge funds are hedging. 47 FREE ASSOCIATION Jacob Sullum reviews New Threats 21 PROGRESS PAINS by Duncan Currie to Freedom, edited by Adam Bellow. The Mexican political reforms we applaud have helped cause the Mexican drug violence we deplore. 49 MUSIC: AN OPERA APART Jay Nordlinger on Before Night GIVE FREELY 25 by John J. Miller Falls, a new opera by Jorge Martín. In California and elsewhere, the Left wants the government to oversee philanthropy. 54 FILM: CRYING ON THE INSIDE 28 YOUR MONEY BACK by Gary Wolfram Ross Douthat reviews Get Him to There is a strong economic case that the Federal Reserve should not exist. the Greek. 29 MESSAGE: I’M INSECURE by Rob Long 55 CITY DESK: TWILIGHT What the president’s oil-spill bluster revealed about him. OF THE IDOLS Richard Brookhiser witnesses a celebrity arrival. FEATURES 32 TURKEY TURNS by Andrew C. McCarthy In opposing the West, its leaders think they are joining the winning side. SECTIONS 36 IT’S COMPLICATED by Jeffrey Friedman 2 Letters to the Editor The world will belong to those who can explain why 4 The Week it must not be entrusted to central planners. 42 The Long View . Rob Long 43 The Bent Pin . Florence King 39 PREFERRED RISK by Iain Murray 47 Poetry . Michael Petti When it comes to insurance, go private, not political. 56 Happy Warrior . Mark Steyn NATIONAL RevIeW (ISSN: 0028-0038) is published bi-weekly, except for the first issue in January, by NATIONAL RevIeW, Inc., at 215 Lexington Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10016. Periodicals postage paid at New York, N.Y., and additional mailing offices. © National Review, Inc., 2010. Address all editorial mail, manuscripts, letters to the editor, etc., to editorial Dept., NATIONAL RevIeW, 215 Lexington Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10016. Address all subscription mail orders, changes of address, undeliverable copies, etc., to NATIONAL RevIeW, Circulation Dept., P. O. Box 433015, Palm Coast, Fla. 32143-3015; phone, 386-246-0118, Monday–Friday, 8:00 A.M. to 10:30 P.M. eastern time. Adjustment requests should be accompanied by a current mailing label or facsimile. Direct classified advertising inquiries to: Classifieds Dept., NATIONAL RevIeW, 215 Lexington Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10016 or call 212-679- 7330. POSTMASTeR: Send address changes to NATIONAL RevIeW, Circulation Dept., P. O. Box 433015, Palm Coast, Fla. 32143-3015. Printed in the U.S.A. RATeS: $59.00 a year (24 issues). Add $21.50 for Canada and other foreign subscriptions, per year. (All payments in U.S. currency.) The editors cannot be responsible for unsolicited manuscripts or artwork unless return postage or, better, a stamped self-addressed envelope is enclosed. Opinions expressed in signed articles do not necessarily represent the views of the editors. letters_QXP-1127940387.qxp 6/16/2010 2:01 PM Page 2 Letters JULY 5 ISSUE; PRINTED JUNE 18 Cuban Racial Demography EDITOR Duncan Currie’s article “Spare Not the Stick,” which appears in the June 7 issue, Richard Lowry claims that Cuba is “a country that has been majority-black since the 1960s.” In Senior Editors fact, according to the CIA World Factbook, 65 percent of the population is white. Richard Brookhiser / Jay Nordlinger Ramesh Ponnuru / David Pryce-Jones Managing Editor Jason Lee Steorts Jonathan Daly Literary Editor Michael Potemra Executive Editor Christopher McEvoy Chicago National Correspondent John J. Miller Art Director Luba Kolomytseva Deputy Managing Editors DuNCAN CurrIe replIeS: According to the most widely cited estimate—which Fred Schwarz / Kevin D. Williamson Associate Editors comes from the State Department—62 percent of the island’s population is Helen Rittelmeyer / Robert VerBruggen Afro-Cuban (mixed or black). ethnologist Carlos Moore, a leading expert on Research Director Katherine Connell Research Manager Dorothy McCartney Cuban race relations, believes the actual figure could be as high as 70 percent. Executive Secretary Frances Bronson As Moore has written, Afro-Cubans were a minority of the population when Assistant to the Editor Natasha Simons Contributing Editors Fidel Castro first took power in 1959, but the white flight triggered by the impo- Robert H. Bork / John Derbyshire sition of Communist rule soon turned Cuba into a majority-black country. Ross Douthat / Rod Dreher / David Frum Roman Genn / Jim Geraghty / Jonah Goldberg Florence King / Lawrence Kudlow / Mark R. Levin Yuval Levin / Rob Long / Jim Manzi Andrew C. McCarthy / Kate O’Beirne Inquisition Inquiries David B. Rivkin Jr. NATIONAL REVIEW ONLINE In his review (“The light of reason,” June 7) of Melanie phillips’s book, “The Editor-at-Large Kathryn Jean Lopez Managing Editor Edward John Craig World Turned Upside Down,” George Weigel asks, “Ought Christians to feel Deputy Managing Editor Duncan Currie ashamed of the Inquisition?” He answers, “Yes, for using coercive state power Staff Reporter Stephen Spruiell News Editor Daniel Foster to enforce doctrinal claims is always an offense against the God who wishes to Web Developer Nathan Goulding Technical Services Russell Jenkins be adored by people who are free.” I would like to ask Mr. Weigel, “By what logic do you believe that people living CHAIRMAN & CEO Thomas L. Rhodes today ought to feel ashamed of something other people did hundreds of years ago?” EDITORS- AT- L A RG E Linda Bridges / John O’Sullivan Arnold Knepfer Contributors Hadley Arkes / Baloo / Tom Bethell Corte Madera, Calif. James Bowman / Priscilla L. Buckley Eliot A. Cohen / Brian Crozier Dinesh D’Souza / M. Stanton Evans “Ought Christians to feel ashamed of the Inquisition?” George Weigel asks. Chester E. Finn Jr. / Neal B. Freeman James Gardner / David Gelernter “Yes, for using coercive state power to enforce doctrinal claims is always an George Gilder / Jeffrey Hart offense against the God who wishes to be adored by people who are free.” Is that Kevin A. Hassett / Charles R. Kesler James Jackson Kilpatrick / David Klinghoffer what was offensive about it? I thought the issue was something to do with, oh, Anthony Lejeune / D. Keith Mano burning people at the stake. Don’t worry too much about how that feels, we are Michael Novak / Alan Reynolds William A. Rusher / Tracy Lee Simmons effectively told; the real problem is that God wasn’t getting enough good free Terry Teachout / Taki Theodoracopulos adoration! Mr. Weigel is to be congratulated for the courage and independence Vin Weber Chief Financial Officer James X. Kilbridge of thought this theological condemnation must have required. Accounting Manager Galina Veygman Accountant Zofia Baraniak Treasurer Rose Flynn DeMaio Oscar DeWitt Business Services Oroville, Calif. Alex Batey / Amy Tyler Circulation Director Erik Zenhausern Circulation Manager Jason Ng GeOrGe WeIGel replIeS: As John paul II reminded us with his calls to cleanse WORLD WIDE WEB www.nationalreview.com MAIN NUMBER 212-679-7330 the Church’s conscience in preparation for the Great Jubilee of 2000, Cathol i - SUBSCRIPTION INQUIRIES 386-246-0118 cism exists as a community extended over time, such that it’s entirely proper, WASHINGTON OFFICE 202-543-9226 ADVERTISING SALES 212-679-7330 and indeed imperative, for the Church to seek God’s pardon for the times in the Executive Publisher Scott F. Budd Advertising Director Jim Fowler past when its children have sinned—and even more so when actions contrary to Advertising Manager Kevin Longstreet Gospel truths were taken in the name of proclaiming or defending the Gospel. ASSOCIATE PUBLISHER Paul Olivett That includes remanding those considered heretics over to what used to be PUBLISHER called the “civil arm” for capital punishment. perhaps in the future Mr. DeWitt Jack Fowler will treat such a subject with the seriousness it deserves. FOUNDER William F. Buckley Jr. Letters may be sub mitted by e-mail to [email protected]. 2 | www.nationalreview.com JULY 5 , 2 0 1 0 base_milliken-mar 22.qxd 6/11/2010 11:29 AM Page 1 A Smithsonian Treasure This commemorative piece represents one of the biggest “what-ifs?” in numismatic his- tory! It’s a special one-ounce Gem Proof struck in .999 pure silver to the exact design of U.S. Mint Chief Engraver Charles Barber’s entry in the informal The “Runner-Up” Double Eagle? competition for the design of the 1907 Gold Double Eagle. Barber’s historic 1906 pattern piece As many know, famed sculptor Augustus Saint-Gaudens comes to life courtesy of a and his remarkable design won, thanks in no small part to his Smithsonian one-of-a-kind find.