Gore Vidal On Obama: "Experience Mattered"

In an interview with author John Meroney, provocateur Gore Vidal has some choice words about politics. In the primaries, he supported Hillary Clinton. Here's what he says about Barack Obama:

"... And I've always been very pro-African-American - or whatever phrase we now use. I was curious to see what would happen when their time came. I was delighted when Obama appeared on the scene. But now it seems as though our original objection to him - that experience mattered - was well-founded."

And here's Vidal on Ted Kennedy's legacy:

It's nothing. But I predicted that at the beginning, when Jack started backing him for his U.S. Senate seat. Historian Arthur Schlesinger, Jr., who was a loyal Kennedy courtier, agreed. But Jack was funny about it. He never took Arthur seriously. He always called him "the movie critic." (Imitating JFK's accent) "What does 'the movie critic' have to say about this issue?" He liked to tease Arthur.

Read the rest, here.

This article available online at:

http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2009/10/gore-vidal-on-obama-experience-mattered/29181/