Rays of sanity in an otherwise crazy campaign
A few days ago, in response to my post on the Clinton-Obama debate in Philadelphia, the following note from Princeton politics professor Peter Meyers was forwarded to me. It read in part:
The usual debunkers just point to the absurdity of the circus but thereby fail to see that real people seeking power, and occasionally seeking good, still have to navigate through this and are themselves transformed by it. There is real human drama in this, no? And this drama creates authentic political possibilities as well as closing them off, no?
Show us more of that...please!
Fair enough. Trolling around YouTube this morning, I found the following 10-minute discussion from last Sunday’s Meet the Press, in which Clinton strategist Geoff Garin and Obama strategist David Axelrod debated the finer points of their respective campaigns in a civil and impressively articulate fashion. Compared to the media-fuelled food fight last Thursday, it comes off like the Oxford Union Debating Society: two smart, committed guys trying to do some good. One hopes their employers take the hint.
My man Stump Connolly (a.k.a. Chicago journalist and documentary film maker Scott Jacobs) has a natty take on the Pennsylvania primary. His conclusion is chilling disturbing and well worth the read:
