Anthony Barnett (New York, OK): Well, Gordon made it to the (lower half) of the front page of the New York Times, with a row of three pictures of him talking to each of the three presidential candidates. He was telling them what to think with his characteristic double-handed gesture in each photo - rather than listening. An interesting error of presentation in what a fascinating Time Magazine profile calls the "black arts" of political persuasion. Gordon might indeed be more comfortable running the world's financial institutions. He told Time,
"We have global financial flows, but we do not have any form of early-warning system for the world economy," he says. "We have environmental catastrophe, but we have no capacity to plan, finance and act globally. We have failed states and terrorism but we've got no organizational ability to deal with reconstruction, stability, peacekeeping and humanitarian work. And we've got a growing popular participation in the big issues of the day, but we don't have any forum for dialogue that even brings the different faiths of the world together."
This is thoughtful and sweeping. But the NYT simply reports that Brown was in Washington "to celebrate what he calls 'the special relationship' ". My italics.
