Ann Patchett isn't a journalist, and yet she can get these normally diffident people to speak their minds honestly. This is how you do an interview. You ask a straightforward question and you, the interviewer, shut up. And of course, Zadie is always a joy to listen to, brilliant as she is.
I find Zadie Smith in the first few minutes of this interview insufferably superior towards a political culture not her own. She also exaggerates the difference in pay between that of a British prime minister (which is not a pittance) and the U.S. president.
"I find Zadie Smith in the first few minutes of this interview insufferably superior towards a political culture not her own." A phenomenon that is wholly indicative of perceptual and cognitive difficulties (perhaps bigotry/prejudice as well) on your part. The sort of thing you describe is nowhere to be found in the interview.
