The President, who really had been mostly managing his one-man Barack Obama narrative and journey his whole life, without executive experience, certainly - he's not a governor. Some governors, of course, they have experience in executing power, which is something fairly unique, actually, in government. And he has, neither, a set of nourishing experiences.

Choose your words meticulously and then let them rumble up from some deep furnace of conviction.

Summers was simply a master explainer, able to deftly boil down the complexities of economic and financial, and to put them in terms the non-expert could understand. He was brilliant at cultivating a sense of control, even as events spun far beyond what could be managed with any certainty. He could will into being the confidence that eluded others, those less self-assured and, maybe sensibly, on humbler terms with the world.

The fact is, most journalists I know are not particularly political. They move around a lot.

Who besides guys like me are part of the reality-based community?

Many years later, a psychiatrist friend of mine said something to us. He said, "Respect denial." It's a powerful force.

It's exciting to work with the kids so devoid of irony, so unguarded. And also terrifying