[Jennie Rothenberg Gritz wrote:]
This clip covers the last few minutes of the Future of Party politics panel. (I'm going to post one more clip later on today from the Q&A session that followed the panel -- it involves a semi-famous Republican figure. Stay tuned.)
A side note: this clip really gets across the sharpness of Matt's mind. Throughout the discussion, the other panelists raise questions about Obama's leadership potential, asking whether he has what it takes to transform national policy or reach out across the political aisle. Rather than trying to defend Obama as either a reformer or a bipartisan unifier, Matt transcends that line of questioning altogether. He makes the strong case that the most memorable presidents -- for instance, Roosevelt and Reagan -- were partisan figures who simply came along at the right time, when the country needed a new set of ideas.
What's enjoyable for me, as someone who works with Matt, Marc, and Ross every day, is seeing them make these sorts of arguments in person. Bloggers apparently like to throw around the abbreviation IRL, which stands for In Real Life. The very fact that they have such a term -- as in, "She's one of my IRL friends" -- underscores how much time they spend sitting in empty rooms, "talking" to people they can't see.
But it just so happens that all of our bloggers are eloquent speakers and, beyond that, really fun people to have a conversation with. I used to hear them having spirited political debates in the kitchen near my office and call out, "Save it for your blogs!" (Later on, when we began making these videos, I started calling out, "Save it for The Table!") But then I realized that there's more than enough to go around. These people never run out of things to say -- and they have that particular brand of ebullience required to keep pouring out opinions at the rate they do. As interesting as it is to read their blogs, there's something really satisfying about watching them think on their feet, cut each other off, laugh, nod their heads at each others' remarks, and simply interact with each other IRL.
Is Obama a reformer? Yeah, he's a normal democrat running at the right time. Great Video!
And I hear he makes great BBQ sauce:
http://www.236.com/news/2008/07/02/americans_agree_black_folks_kn_7491.php
Posted by Morgan Walker | July 4, 2008 10:31 AM