ANDREW FERGUSON ON HBO’S THE FINAL YEAR, aka, the Final Hagiography of the Obama Team:

For a viewer susceptible to schadenfreude—I name no names—that comes on election night, when the “legacy” of Obama and his visionaries effectively dissolves before their very eyes. A camera follows Rhodes outside, where he slumps, devastated, on a bench. He’s asked how he feels. “It’s a lot to process,” he says. For more than 30 seconds he gropes to express himself. “I can’t .  .  . I .  .  . I ca  .  .  . I mean, I ca .  .  . ”

The silence is like a fresh breeze.

Getting Ben Rhodes to shut up? Now that’s the ultimate milking of the soft power dividend of that magical moment. Read the whole thing.