http://www.brightcove.tv/title.jsp?title=1381682549

He’s inspiring, here, not because of grand rhetoric but rather because of his command of the details of policy in an enormous range of domestic and foreign issues.

If you just have time to listen to a little of it, check this out at about 39 minutes in: One of the editors challenges his environmental policy, asking if he is promising too much. After all, the president has to work with Congress, right? The implication (intended or not) was that Clinton, with her type of insider “experience” would be more effective.

Obama’s reply was perfect:

“The problem is not technical. The problem is not sufficient mastery of the legislative intricacies of Washington. The problem is: can you get the American people to say ‘This is really important’ and force their representatives to do the right thing. That requires mobilizing a citizenry. That requires that they understand what is at stake.”

I had a longish argument with AB about whether everyone’s infatuation with Obama would really add up to any effective movement in Washington. Here, Obama makes clear the mechanism by which seemingly nebulous qualities like leadership and vision actually effect change.

Obama views the presidential office as more than a position of political leverage for sausage-making in the legislative branch. He views it as an office that should inspire all Americans. He views change as something that comes up from the bottom. His campaign — overwhelmingly funded by small individual donors, rejecting PAC and lobbying money — is an unequivocal expression of that vision.

I’m rambling; sorry. I just want you on my side

I think I’ll send this to the politics list, just to get it off my chest…