Lawrence Lessig recently posted this calm, engaging presentation on his site: 20 minutes or so on why I am 4Barack (Lessig Blog).

I’d like to add a note or two…

1) People who think Hillary has already been inoculated against Republican smears, because of her previous experience as a target, and will therefore better survive the coming election are being, at best, naive. There’s plenty of fresh dirt to hit her with, including Bill’s financial dealings with Dubai, her record as a Senator, and even how she’s handled this primary campaign (campaign donors, dirty tricks, etc). But not only that … all the old stuff, both Bill’s and her own, is far from settled business. Remember, much of this stuff was still boiling when Clinton left office; the heat lowered because Clinton wasn’t in a position worth attacking with such vehemence anymore. All of that stuff is just waiting to be resurrected.

2) People who think Obama is too soft, friendly, inexperienced — not street-wise enough to handle the rough and tumble of the fall of this year — don’t understand the guy at all. Check out this article exploring his youth, and how he got where he is now. Do you really think a guy with his background could have organized communities and garnered the power he did to become a Senator in a place like Chicago if he was soft? Seriously? And this campaign he’s running… it’s the most impressive grass-roots effort of this generation. Every step of the unlikely, precipitous rise he’s made was planned and executed with brilliant results. And unlike most candidates who get the lion’s share of their coffers from rich “friends” of the campaign, he’s running almost entirely on small donations from regular folks. Millions and millions of dollars worth. If you don’t think he can lead people, and manage complex human systems, how do you explain that?