Defense versus State

Via Powerline, this is an absolutely fascinating post over at Big Lizards. The thesis is that Presidential administrations can be characterized by whether the Department of State or the Department of Defense is ascendant. Without subscribing to all the editorial comments in the post, it does seem to characterize recent administrations--and the way they are personified in the media--quite well.

Taking the framework a little bit furhter, I think that most elite college campuses are State campuses. Very few, outside of the service academies, would be Defense campuses. And that may explain some of the disconnect between the military and the academy.