A Kuo Duo (UPDATE: Make It a Three-Pack)

Alan Cooperman's article in the Washington Post regarding David Kuo's latest book is a rather good read for the morning. No doubt, a lot of folks will pick up the book looking for some sort of tell-all sensationalism regarding Bush's faux concern for building faith-based policy solutions. But even among the right, the book probably ought to be read a bit more closely than some of the talking-points crowd seems to have indicated they've done.

There's still a valuable place for the approach Kuo and others favor (that both the left and right might even agree on). EJ Dionne's column is a great complement to this analysis, putting Kuo's politics in far better perspective than even Kuo's onetime friends on the right.

I tend to agree with Dionne's closing. What's needed isn't a "political fast" by Christian conservatives (or anyone else for that matter). What's needed is a mirror and a bit of introspection on the relevance of Christ's message to the politics of His followers ... be they Republican or Democrat.

By all accounts, Kuo has written a great book, written with the author's final fate in mind as he deals with brain cancer and a sense that it's time for him to tell his tale for the sake of improving public dialogue on the intersection of faith and politics. From the looks of it, he's done just that. I resisted the urge to camp out for my copy of the book. Easy to do when I'm working 12-16 hour days, I suppose. The schedule isn't kind on finishing items on my reading list. I'll save this one for when the calendar is clearer.

UPDATE: Amy Sullivan lacks patience. That's a good thing, though. Her first take of the book is up. Since I'm too swamped to wade through the other related links from FaithfulDemocrats.com, I'll just point any interested parties over there for today. You know it's a busy season for this bunch when Barack Obama's book gets second-billing. Eventually, I suspect it'll balance out.