OTOH, I hadn't realised Tom Friedman played "hours of golf" with Obama. (in the original linked JTA piece.) Strangely, he didn't share that one with us.
Better men than he were in politicians' pockets - cf. Walter Lippmann with FD Roosevelt and later Charles De Gaulle. In fact, one of the smartest things a politician can do is encourage some prominent intellectuals to become his friends, even his intimates. That creates more loyalty than any promotion or bribe, and the intellectuals, being intellectuals, are rarely in a position to challenge him.
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