Jerry and Meg met again this week at a women's conference. Matt Lauer moderated it. Brown punked Whitman in brilliant fashion. He made her look really bad. And that's fun to watch. But the video is very instructive about Brown as a politician and it is the clearest demonstration I've seen in memory of a super talented politician at work. Those in the community who aspire to be successful candidates would do well to watch and take notes:
Instead of watching what Whitman did wrong, focus on what Brown did right. At his age, he still has a supple mind. He's an incredibly quick thinker and he has the self-confidence and experience to act on his great political instincts.
It was like watching Muhammad Ali at the top of his career.
Contrast that with Meg, who couldn't decide or promise anything without going back to her staff and having a meeting about it. Meg looked like she was still too committed to running negative ads, and maybe so, but I suspect she just isn't used to making up her mind and acting on her decision. She just sat there trying to make the moment go away, in large part because she was too dull-witted to take advantage of it.
That my friends, in four minutes and fifty-six seconds is the difference between a leader and a hack. A person of talent versus a well-connected, well-resourced plodder.
I've had my differences with Jerry Brown, as governor, mayor and AG. But in this campaign, we would all be well-served by looking at what Brown is doing right rather than what Whitman is doing wrong. Sure, she's easy to hate, but there are things we could be learning here from Brown, as old as he is.