Instead, it’s the Organization Kids, with their elite educations and global connections, who have the advantage in a competition driven by “relationships” and “charisma,” which begins to sound suspiciously like the old boys’ network of yore. Indeed, his vision of the future world is literally just a variation on Richard Florida’s “creative class” economy in which cities around the world compete for global elites. Brooks gets that certain people — the Mark Zuckerbergs of the world — are the “sorts of people who become stars in an information economy and a hypercompetitive, purified meritocracy.” But although he acknowledges that it will be necessary to address “human capital inequalities” to give everyone a “chance to participate,” he doesn’t seem to understand that the meritocracy he champions is anything but purified. Brooks is so enamored of his vision of a new economy, driven by American middle-class values and invariably described as “creative,” “diverse” and “innovative” (because who can argue with those?) that he can’t see that this seemingly bright future is already leaving millions behind.
Relations, in any event, are not good. His press conferences are fewer than Clinton’s (though more than Bush’s) at the same stage of their presidencies—and, says Clinton’s former press secretary Mike McCurry, “I feel sometimes when I watch Obama do these that he looks like he’d rather be having a root canal.” Obama does reserve a certain respect for opinion writers such as Tom Friedman and David Brooks of The New York Times, Jerry Seib of The Wall Street Journal, E. J. Obama incessantly refers to “the cable chatter” with palpable disdain, and he frequently grumbles to his aides about the media’s coverage of his presidency. Dionne of The Washington Post, and Joe Klein of Time. “My impression is that he reads a lot of columnists,” says Brooks, “and therefore he sort of cares about what they say.”.
J. His press conferences are fewer than Clinton’s (though more than Bush’s) at the same stage of their presidencies—and, says Clinton’s former press secretary Mike McCurry, “I feel sometimes when I watch Obama do these that he looks like he’d rather be having a root canal.” Obama does reserve a certain respect for opinion writers such as Tom Friedman and David Brooks of The New York Times, Jerry Seib of The Wall Street Journal, E. “My impression is that he reads a lot of columnists,” says Brooks, “and therefore he sort of cares about what they say.”. Dionne of The Washington Post, and Joe Klein of Time. Obama incessantly refers to “the cable chatter” with palpable disdain, and he frequently grumbles to his aides about the media’s coverage of his presidency. Relations, in any event, are not good.
Related Stories
