White House Communications Director Dan Pfeiffer's appearance before the audience at Netroots Nation on Friday is, perhaps not surprisingly, getting a lot of attention around the blogosphere over the past 36 hours.
Of particular interest was the give-and-take between Pfeiffer and Daily Kos Associate Editor Kaili Joy Gray. Slate's David Weigel reported on the occasional tension in the exchanges, noting Gray's employment of "Tim Russert's style of repeating simple questions and seeing how Pfeiffer squirmed away from them."
His partner at Slate, Alex Pareene, had arguably the most humorous accounting of the exchange, which including the following observation:
Pfeiffer didn't really have to submit to this. The White House desperately wants liberal dollars but I can't imagine they're particularly worried about liberal votes. Democrats are never scared of their base, because liberals are terrified of Republicans:"We can either work together and finish that work that we started in 2008 or we can be relegated back to the sidelines and see what a Republican president ... does to this country," he said at the event, which was streamed online.He's right! A Republican president will most likely do what the last three Republican presidents have done: Starve the government of revenue, allow industries to capture regulators, launch pointless and bloody foreign misadventures, and threaten to gut the welfare state. I mean, all of those things might be happening now, with a Democrat, but they would happen so much worse with Mitt Romney, probably! So vote Obama again!
Politico's Mike Allen also noted the Q&A between Gray and Pfeiffer:
The interview so riveting that we have preserved key passages for historians of this administration:GRAY: ?It seems like he?s been a little frustrated with US at times ? or, at least, members of his administration have been frustrated with us. So, ? I thank you for being here, and acknowledging us. But ? what?s in it for us in a second term? What are we gonna be seeing from him, and what big ideas are we gonna see ? are we gonna see him return to some fundamental PROGRESSIVE values, instead of focusing mostly on what he CAN get done with Republicans??
PFEIFFER: ?I will do that, but I want to first address what you said about sometimes HE, and us, being frustrated with our critics.?
GRAY, mischievously: ?We?re also your SUPPORTERS.?
PFEIFFER: ?Right ? right-right-right. ? At times, we have become frustrated with our critics. But it?s not all of our critics: When Glenn Beck and John Boehner attack us, we expect that. And sometimes, when our friends attack us, we get frustrated. It doesn?t mean it?s the right thing to do to get frustrated. ? We WANT you to push us ? we absolutely do. The president is someone who comes from a tradition of grassroots organizing, community organizing. A lot of the pushing that you guys are doing on a national level, he did on a local level in Chicago, and he understands that. And every once in awhile, when you?re TIRED, you?re out there and you?re swinging away, and you think you?re doing the right thing under tough circumstances, and the people who you care about most, attack you, you sometimes get frustrated. It doesn?t mean it?s the right thing to do.?
GRAY: ?We understand how that feels.? [Light laughter, scattered applause]
For those who missed the entirety of the exchange, the video is available here. It has been one of the most discussed moments of a very newsworthy convention.
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