Optimism/Pessimism

John Derbyshire thinks we're too optimistic.

He claims pessimism is for conservatives and foolish optimism for liberals.

I disagree. Optimism and Pessimism, it seems to me, are separate beasts from political ideology. The Neocons are essentially optimist conservatives. The Moveon crowd are pessimistic liberals. Traditional conservatives, like Derbyshire and Newt Gingrich, are pessimists. Liberals like Obama and Ted Kennedy are optimist.

But I do agree, there are times for both, and now certainly does feel like a time for pessimism. And that's not necessarily a bad thing.