Today at The New Republic Online, Alan Wirzbicki writes an interesting article about the significance of Tom Clancy's name on the cover of Gen. Anthony Zinni's new book Battle Ready:

from Paperback writerWhen Ph.D. candidates of the future write the literary history of the Bush presidency, the day that a Republican administration became the bad guy in a Tom Clancy book will surely stand out as a cultural Rubicon crossed.  [more]

I enjoy pointedly hyperbolic statements like that one. Does Tom Clancy wield as much influence on public opinion as Wirzbicki asserts in the article? I doubt it. But as one indicator on a political barometer, there may be something to his argument.