Pssssstt to the Obama campaign: Collect dust jackets from different seized Bibles, use them to cover the books that Obama may be reading. This will instantly convert him from a girlyman into a Christian warrior…

It's The Post-American World -- a world that is not American.

That seems like a fairly uncontroversial, and by no means provocative, title -- at least, to realists.

The problem is that it's a term of art that's likely to be misinterpreted by 99 percent of Americans at first blush.

However, n.b. that the book is not The Post-America World -- a world without America.

It's The Post-American World -- a world that is not American.

That seems like a fairly uncontroversial, and by no means provocative, title -- at least, to realists.

would you care to indicate whether you agree with Barnett's assessment of Zakaria?

I like Zakaria and think his analysis tends to be reasonable. "Post-America World," though, is designed to be provocative and sell books and isn't descriptive of the contents. Post-hegemony is not the same as post-America.

Because, passing over it in silence, you certainly don't seem to DISagree ... and I don't think that Zakaria merits any "weak-ass Jimmy Carter" reaction.

Honestly, my first thought when I saw those pics of Obama reading Zakaria’s book, with that title, was, “that’s a great way to lose an election.”

We are a slightly center-right nation right now,

I've never heard of this Barnett guy, but I am wondering what he's smoking.

I am not sure what he means by claiming "we are a center-right nation."

But even if you accept that notion, Zakaria IS center-right, so I'm not sure how reading his book somehow is antithetical to that notion.

Barnett Endorses "Weak-Ass Jimmy" Carter

Not quite fair, James. He wrote, "We are a slightly center-right nation right now, and if Obama loses track of that, he’ll be a weak-ass Jimmy Carter in office..." The "if" is the iffy part.