Verrrry Interesting...

Via Shakesville:  T. A. Frank at Washington Monthly back in 2007 on why Bob Herbert is not more "influential:"

...Beltway insularity is to blame. Never have I felt more inclined to resort to this explanation than when I met Bob Herbert, whom I wound up liking just as much as I feared I would. He makes a pretty good case for the idea that it is cocooned Washington types like me who are the problem.

[...]

This whodunit will not have an ending worthy of Agatha Christie. But it will, at least, have a resolution: Bobdunit. It's true that elites don't care enough about the world of the working class or the poor. It's true that human nature is inherently biased against Herbert-style entreaties. These obstacles make his job very, very hard. But they are constants. A columnist must use the only variable, his column, to surmount them. Instead, Bob Herbert disregards them. His underlying problem turns out to be simple: he doesn't write with his audience in mind.

If we're using the beer test *ptui* I'd have the alcoholic beverage of my choice with Mr. Herbert; Mr. Brooks and/or Mr. Douthat would wind up, sooner or later, wearing the beer.