Some recent finds watching that great American institution
CSPAN, now also available through the miracle of their video library.
Washington Post editor David Maraniss was interviewed about
his recent biography of Barack Obama, entitled, appropriately enough, Barack
Obama, The Story. Maraniss
certainly comes off as an admirer of the President, but even this mainstream
media fixture allows some journalistic integrity to bleed through the cracks. Here's the full video.
I especially like this part, isolated through the miracle of
CSPAN editing tool (although they don’t allow you to embed these yet. Come on
CSPAN, I expect more for my investment, of absolutely nothing, to use this). You may not be happy about the prospect
of a Barack Obama second term. But
at the very least, you get to still hear questions like this asked about the
President of the United States for four more years. (Hint, remember to hit the play button.)
Another great American institution, besides marijuana, is
author Robert Caro. If I had to
trade lives with just one person, it might be Caro. What a life.
On a daily basis, he emeshes himself in history, research, story
telling, to say nothing of that Brazilian underwear model he’s married to. Any
time you happen across Robert Caro on TV, do yourself a favor and watch it, he never
fails to provide spellbinding accounts of any topic on which he chooses to put
his focus. This presentation was
on his latest book on Lyndon Johnson, The Passage of Power. Among his tales is the story which
I’d never heard before, what Johnson was doing during the Kennedy was
assassination, which he viewed from the car immediately trailing the
President’s.
Also check out this clip. An earnest questioner asks what would Lyndon do if he had to
deal with a Congress as awful and intrasigent as the current iteration. I get the sense the questioner
was fishing for some absolution of Obama for his inability to get anything done
since 2010. But Caro gives a
bracing answer. Johnson
provided genius level leadership, the ability to find a way when no way appears
obvious. Something to remember
next time you hear the current President talk about how we are are being
propelled helplessly toward the so-called fiscal cliff.
