The indispensable pundit

There are a dozen or so pundits whose views I’m interested in reading across a range of subjects. Charles Krauthammer was the one pundit whose views I needed to read. It’s strange to think of any pundit as indispensable, but Krauthammer was for me.

This has been especially true the past year. I can’t count the number of times I craved to know what Krauthammer thought about this or that doing of President Trump, or of his administration, or of the resistance.

I kept thinking, and then hoping, we would hear from him on these matters. Today came the very sad word that we will not.

I met Krauthammer a few times at the splendid Pro Musica Hebraica programs he organized at the Kennedy Center and we corresponded a few times by email. He also called me at my office once on a matter of mutual interest. (I was less than polite at first, thinking he was a legal recruiter or a stock broker.)

The first time I met Krauthammer, he told me he “loved the blog” and that “it’s a great blog.” We’ve received a fair amount of praise over the years and even a few honors. None meant as much to me as Krauthammer’s words.

I learned from his then-research assistant that Krauthammer reviewed, or had his assistant review, Power Line in preparation for his nightly appearances on Fox News. I was delighted that we were among the “pundits” whose views he was interested in reading.

In my view, Krauthammer was in a league of his own when it came to commentary. His enforced absence has left a huge void — one that we now know will not be filled.

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