Better wise than smart

Here's an interesting interview with Barack Obama about Zionism, Israel and the Palestinians. Obama is at his best here — highly articulate, reflective without being indecisive, and intellectually substantive.

It's catnip for wonks, and its one of the reasons Obama is so popular among political commentators — he speaks their language. The same phenomenon has been at work here in Australia, with the media lauding Kevin Rudd's grasp of Mandarin and his broader foreign policy experience. But at the level these leaders operate, I tend to think judgment and wisdom play as important a part as experience and subject-matter expertise. And on those grounds, the jury is still out on both men.