This article, critical of the US left (and, I should have added, the Canadian left), was written with feelings of disappointment and sorrow. I criticize the left as someone who identifies with it. Those I expected to penetrate the great frauds of the fall of 2001 did not, for the most part, rise to the occasion. Friends have told me the “failure of imagination” hypothesis I put forth here is naive and that I am being too easy on the intellectuals I criticize. They may be right, but this remains the position most convincing to me.