Bob Sagan

You May Be a Liberal If... Bob Sagan

Are today's liberals simply na¿ve or insidiously disingenuous? That's one of the questions former journalist Bob Sagan attempts to answer in You may be a Liberal if... A Self-Help Guide For Those Suffering Identity Crises During These Times Of Rampaging Liberal Irrelevance. The author contends that politics have become too critical a part of our lives to be actively pursued by anyone stumbling through an identity crisis; and that many liberals today have begun re-labeling themselves progressives, possibly unaware that the Progressive Party, which touted former FDR Vice President Henry Wallace for president in 1948, proved to be Kremlin-backed and communist-riddled. Having won only three of the last 10 presidential contests, and today serving as the "loyal opposition" in Congress, many liberals (read: Democrats) still blame America first instead of standing by America first during these perilous times, Sagan says. On the lighter side, the author wonders if anyone else had noticed the "uncanny resemblance" between perennial presidential hopeful Dennis Kucinich and Mad Magazine's Alfred E. ("What My Worry?") Neuman. The resemblance ended, Sagan says, when Neuman chose not to run because he claimed he didn't want to waste supporters' money on a frivolous campaign. Sagan also wonders aloud what plans (should she be elected) a Madame President Clinton might have for that particular White House office her spouse frequently used while defining the word "is," during the highly celebrated 1995-97 "presidential rutting season." Someone call the carpenters. On the serious side, the book doesn't attempt to answer just why liberals are, well...liberals. But it does provide a few hundred examples of liberal behavior in such areas as the presidency, congress, history, the media and the Clintons ("The Bill & Hill Show") - which almost overwhelm the reader with a concentrated litany of "lies and lunacies that at first can be infuriating, and then numbing."