Our Seb, yesterday. Let’s pass by his Beltway-standard pissing and moaning about the polarization of American politics—making one’s way to the cocktail weenie table is so unpleasant lately. You never know who you’ll run into! Ain’t it awful?—and make our way, as few before us have, to the end of his column, where we find this gem:

I’m not predicting the end of the American era, not by a long shot. The U.S. business culture is as pragmatic and effective as its political culture is dysfunctional. But has there been a worse moment for American power since Ronald Reagan celebrated morning in America almost a quarter of a century ago? I can’t think of one.

Well. The news, today:

Former Enron Corp. Chief Executive Officer Jeffrey Skilling was to learn Monday how long he will have to spend behind bars for orchestrating one of the nation’s biggest financial scandals.

The [Enron] collapse wiped out thousands of jobs, more than $60 billion in market value and more than $2 billion in pension plans.

That’s some “pragmatism”, eh? Real “effective”, right, Seb?

How could anyone have written that line with a straight face? “Pragmatic and effective” U.S. business culture, my Sweet Aunt Fanny.

I can only conclude that Seb must have been writing from personal experience; that, regardless of the option scandals, the pension scams, the conflicts of interest, all combined with salaries so gross as to amount to kleptocracy, the Halliburton police schools that rained crap on the students, Our Seb believes that WaPo’s management is an exception to the rule!

That his own management is indeed “pragmatic” and “effective.”

Certainly “pragmatic” and “effective” enough to reward him richly for sucking up to them in the public prints.

Brings a tear to my eye, it does. But I’ve always been sentimental.