Mr Connerly's detractors have accused him of everything from McCarthyism to self-hatred to being a Ku Klux Klan sympathiser, but he seems untainted by the paranoid self-righteousness that is so common on the American right.
Jellyby from "Bleak House, " that little tornado of conceit and self-righteousness who set herself to rehabilitating the world as she neglected her own family.
"I am sorry for the timing and result of my action, but continue to believe that people working in traditional media needs to open their eyes to the realities of our culture in 2010 without denial, selfrighteousness or arrogance, " Mr. Abrams wrote.
So when Mr Mitchell arrives this weekend, he will find unionists and republicans capable of sitting down to negotiate away from the spotlight, but bristling with grievance and self-righteousness in public.
This leads to the final problem that has done the most to disappoint OLPC's fans: the hubris, arrogance and occasional self-righteousness of OLPC workers.