Saturday, November 08, 2008

Snookered

clipped from www.qando.net

even though I was an assistant editor (big doings at this
“consulting firm”) and he was, well, he was doing something there, he certainly
treated me like something less than an equal.

Funny thing… A
journalism/political science major… Writing about finance… Pretending in his
book to be an expert on interest rate swaps.

I remember trying to explain
the nuance of these instruments to him in the cramped three Wang terminal space
we called the bull pen. In contrast to his his liberal arts background, I had a
degree in finance and Wall Street experience, so I knew what I was talking
about.

But rather than learn from a City College kid, the Ivy Leaguer
just sort of rolled his eyes. Condescendingly. I’ll never forget it. God forbid
he leave the impression that a mere editor like myself knew more about something
than did Barack.

He was like that…
But the myth stands, and
it is useful to trot out to calm the fears of those who have a sneaking
suspicion they've been snookered,