Benj, you’re right about Chamber’s tone. I was writing quickly before setting off to work and didn’t pause long enough to think.

Anyway, I agree that Chambers’ review is a brilliant take down, though in it he shows a bit of what he accuses Rand of being. Most of what Chambers wrote was excellent, and we could use his ferocious and brave insight these days. Lord, can you imagine one W.Chambers writing for the NY Times Book Review? The pages would burst into flame.

At the same time, I might add that a line you quote from Chambers is a perfect description of Team Obama, far as I’m concerned. Not just the O, but the whole sordid crew.

Soon we suspect something worse. We suspect that this mind finds, precisely in extravagance, some exalting merit; feels a surging release of power and passion precisely in smashing up the house. A tornado might feel this way, or Carrie Nation.

A release of power and passion in smashing up the house. Ex-freakin’-actly.