Wednesday, November 01, 2006

Le monde, c'est moi

In a column that takes his self-parodic tendencies up to 11, Tom Friedman today (subs. req'd) inadvertently announces his retirement --

You know the old story, ''As my Parisian taxi driver said to me about the French elections '' Well, you can forget about reading columns starting that way anymore. My driver was too busy to say hello, let alone opine on politics.

We also can't let pass an insight into the music preferences of the Globalist-in-Chief --

After the car started to roll, I saw he had a movie playing on the screen in the dashboard -- on the flat panel that usually displays the G.P.S. road map. I noticed this because between his talking on the phone and the movie, I could barely concentrate. I, alas, was in the back seat trying to finish a column on my laptop. When I wrote all that I could, I got out my iPod and listened to a Stevie Nicks album, while he went on talking, driving and watching the movie.

With everyone now too busy to write Friedman's columns for him, could it have been Trouble in Shangri-La?

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