at home with bill

I love this clip of Bill Clinton stumping for Obama in Arkansas, Clinton's home state, the other day. The old master is in fine form; those outsized hands employed in their extensive repertoire of gestures, the tongue rolling around the cheek and the eyes narrowing before a particularly sharp point...it's an extravagant physical performance as well as a verbal one, infused with more than one type of intelligence. What I admire most of all about Clinton as a politician is his unmatchable ability to appeal to head and heart at the same time. He's folksy and down-to-earth like Palin, but unlike her he treats his audience like adults, there to hear a reasoned argument. (via Politico)