Fareed

As David Gregory fails in his attempt to fill the shoes of Tim Russert (who, more often than not, annoyed the hell out of me with his superficial "gotcha" approach and lack of appropriate followup questions while riffing through his list rather than listening), people ought to take a look at Fareed Zakaria. In my area, his "GPS" show on CNN runs at the same time as "MTP" (1 pm Eastern) and is a hell of a lot better. Fareed is thoughtful, self-effacing, humorous, and very knowledgeable. He asks good questions and listens to the answers. Here's the opening exchange with Robert Gates, from last weekend:

ZAKARIA: Secretary Gates, thank you for doing this.

ROBERT GATES, U.S. SECRETARY OF DEFENSE: My pleasure.

ZAKARIA: President Obama -- you've heard a lot of Republican criticism that he's going around the world apologizing about America. Do you accept that?

GATES: Well, I like to remind people that, when President George W. Bush came into office, he talked about a more humble America. And, you know, you go back to Theodore Roosevelt and his line about speaking softly, but carrying a big stick.

I think that acknowledging that we have made mistakes is not only factually accurate, I think that it is unusual, because so few other governments in the world are willing to admit that, although they make them all the time. And some of them make catastrophic mistakes.

And in speeches myself, I have said that at times we have acted too arrogantly. And I didn't feel that I was being apologetic for America, I just was saying, because the next -- I was just saying that that's the way we are in terms of being willing to recognize our own limitations, and when we make a mistake to correct it.

Because I think the next line that I always use is, no other country in the world is so self-critical, and is so willing to change course when we feel that we've strayed from our values, or when we feel like we've been too arrogant.

So, I think -- I have not seen it as an apology tour at all, but rather a change of tone, a more humble America. But everybody knows we still have the big stick.

Much to say about that: first, I think Robert Gates is an impressive guy: thoughtful, truthful, competent, soft-spoken. Sort of the opposite of his predecessor. Second, his response, in my view, is exactly the correct one to the RWS™ characterization of Obama as "apologizing" for America. They see it as weak. I see it as strong. And we know who thinks straight.

The transcript of the entire interview, which was a very candid and deep, if not un-disturbing, discussion of Pakistan and Afghanistan, is here. (I tried to embed the video, but it didn't seem to be happening. It can be seen, in two parts, here and here.)

Anyhow, it's nice to have at least one venue in which reasoned discussion can be heard. Parenthetically, in relation to my most recent of many comments on the apparent differences in how liberals and conservatives deal with facts, there's a point to be made about who watches what, and how much. I'd say all people like to have their points of view reinforced, and it's nice to be agreed with. On the other hand, the comparative rating of the RWS™ as they appear mostly on Fox, and those of the few lefty talkers, mostly on MSNBC, seem to reinforce my belief (and how nice that is). Fox gets more viewers than MSNBC. In my view, it's because liberals don't need the constant reinforcement of solidified views that (many) conservatives do. It sort of goes along with open-mindedness.

For those conservatives willing to give a try at hearing reasonable opinion and discussion, I'd suggest GPS as a non-threatening and painless way to see what it's like. Sort of a toe in the water. Take it slow. Check with your doctor first.
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