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The New York Times� David Brooks Addresses 900 Business and Community Leaders at SPU Breakfast

A New York Times columnist, best-selling author and political analyst for 揟he NewsHour With Jim Lehrer,� David Brooks also happens to be a witty, self-effacing man of faith.

As headline speaker for 葫芦娃视频抯 Greater Seattle Community Breakfast on April 27, he brought his own comic style and keen analysis to a discussion of 揟he Landscape of American Politics.� Brooks offered a tour of suburban culture, describing the predominantly Democratic 搃nner-ring� suburbs and the mostly Republican 搊uter-ring� suburbs. 揝ociety is filled with good people working together on problems,� he said. 揧et when you get into the world of politics, it抯 Hatfield and McCoy. We抮e in a politically polarized era. … My question is, why are we so upset with each other?�

Brooks doesn抰 fit the media stereotype of a right-winged commentator with an axe to grind. He has a comic, pointed style that falls somewhere between William Safire抯 and Garrison Keillor抯. Recently labeled 搕he hothouse flower of The New York Times — its token conservative,� he has also been called 搑ed-hot� and 搊ne of the must-reads in this country.� SPU President Philip Eaton describes Brooks as 搃n the grand tradition of the American essayist and one of our important cultural observers.�

On 揟he NewsHour,� Brooks takes on liberal commentator Mark Shields as they interpret the week抯 news. But Brooks says he makes a point of not hammering people with his brand of politics. 揑f conservatives ran the world,� he muses tongue-in-cheek, 搃t would be terrible.� Half of his best friends are liberals, he tells Response. 揑抦 not one of those who thinks that one side is morally superior.�

The importance of faith and character is something Brooks does hammer on in his essays, editorials and self-described books of 揷omic sociology,� Bobos in Paradise and his upcoming On Paradise Drive. A practicing Jew, he argues that the decline of ethics and rise of superficiality are dangerous trends in America. Rather than researchers trying to figure out why folks are so religious, he once wrote, 搑eligious groups should be sending out researchers to try to understand why there are pockets of people in the world who do not feel the constant presence of God in their lives.�

Brooks� breakfast remarks were preceded by comments from Eaton on how to lead with vision, direction and purpose in a world where people抯 搈aps� are always colliding. 揟hose were some of the more on-point and eloquent remarks I抳e heard from a college president, ever,� said Brooks as he came to the podium.

The work of Seattle Pacific is significant, he continued. 揗any universities instruct their students on every tiny aspect of life — except character-building and values. It抯 nice to be at a university where students are provided with a vocabulary to talk about the most important issues in life.�