Who is Ahab?

For decades (literally -- no pun intended) there has been a division of labor in the Dubnick household -- Randi did the literature, I did the politics. Nice arrangement until I finally awoke to the fun of studying politics as narratives.... It also helps to stumble across some really interesting discussions such as a recent exchange on Christopher Lydon's Open Source considering Melville's Moby Dick as an allegory for the current US administration. Andrew Delbanco from Columbia University takes the lead, author Jonathan Raben takes up the game, and then Washington's Sidney Blumenthal jumps in. Later in the show Susan Cheever throws cold water on the whole effort and then makes some excuse to get out of the conversation -- but overall a pretty interesting hour. Hear the podcast here. The one thing they seem to agree on is that Colin Powell is definitely Starbucks-like.... Tags: Radio Open Source, Moby Dick, Herman Melville, Andrew Delbanco, Sidney Blumenthal, Jonathan aben, Christopher Lydon, Susan Cheever, Mel Dubnick, accountabilitybloke