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BEHIND THE BYLINE

Charles Krauthammer

By Martin Gottlieb

Dayton Daily News

Charles Krauthammer came on the commentary scene two decades ago with some brilliant agonizing in The New Republic about the problems of the liberal movement, which he was leaving. Today the agonizing is gone, and he sees no more merit in liberalism than a reformed alcoholic sees in booze.

Krauthammer broke his neck in a diving accident when he was a pre-med student at Harvard University and is confined to a wheelchair. Despite that, he had a successful career in medicine — chief resident in psychiatry at Massachusetts General Hospital — before turning to writing. In the transition, he worked for President Jimmy Carter and Vice President Walter Mondale.

He is a neoconservative. Like most political labels, the definition of this one is fuzzy. At its narrowest, it refers primarily to people — mainly Jewish, mainly with an intellectual bent — who used to be Democrats and liberals but came to believe in a hawkish, aggressive foreign policy, and a less forgiving, less generous domestic policy, one that puts more responsibility on individuals.

Among conservatives, the neocons are not the ones leading the call either for smaller government or the agenda of the religious right. They are deeply committed to Israel, and they are put off by the left's — especially the European left's — increasing tilt toward the Palestinians.

Krauthammer won a Pulitzer Prize in 1987. His critics say he has since settled into partisanship as a style. But he is still one of the most sophisticated conservative voices around.

A Washington Post promotion of its columnist quotes him about his role, saying it's not all about ideology.

"Much of it has to do with common sense," he says. "One of my many missions is putting up a first-line defense against the various enthusiasms of the age — everything from the nuclear freeze to identity politics to the 'recovered memory' movement — which tend to roll over the culture at regular intervals."

Krauthammer and his wife, Robyn, an artist, have one son.