E.J. Dionne Jr. Responds

In his fine book on Hannah Arendt and Albert Camus, Jeffrey Isaac makes an entirely convincing case that one can respect the tragic aspect of political action without losing hope in its possibilities. Perhaps it’s because Jeff Isaac has so influenced my view that I now find myself considerably less pessimistic than he is about our current situation.

He is broadly right in a number of his criticisms of the progressive (or is it neoprogressive?) outlook. But I think he misses the e...