Present and future leaders

Yesterday I had the privilege of listening to a talk by two extraordinarily impressive government officials (I know, that sounds like an oxymoron).  Alec Ross is the senior advisor to Hilary Clinton, responsible for innovation and technology.  He is bringing technology to the government and foreign policy, and bringing them both into the 21st century.  Jared Cohen is an accomplished author and a member of Ms. Clinton's policy planning staff, a role he began in 1996 under Condeleeza Rice.  Cohen is widely known for having intervened to keep Twitter online during the Iranian election crisis.

These two spoke about the need to innovate, to find new ways of reaching people.  I can't describe the details of what they had to say, but they were truly inspiring.  If, as Eric Schmidt puts it, these are the future faces of politics, then I feel a little bit better about where things are headed in this country.