More on Neustadt

I found the following youtube which is 9 minutes of clips or
"highlights" from his program Tiempo Nuevo over the years at :
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jXQMhEhKgLg

The 9 minute reel is apparently pulled from a CD Rom compiled by
Neustadt himself.

WHat is remarkable in watching this is the sense one gets that
Neustadt was not so much reporting history as he was helping to shape
Argentine history.. Certainly by providing a forum for the subjects he
wished to have discussed and by asking specific questions of his own
determination and through his own concluding statements he helped make
Argentine history... By becoming an almost active participant in the
end its not surprising that he opened himself up to charges that he
sympathized too much with one segment of the Argentine political
spectrum or that he was not active enough against a specific sector...
But thats the danger you always run when you are an interested party
in such a highly charged ongoing discussion as the fate of a nation
you love...

And I do think that ultimately for all the wrongs he may have
committed and perhaps more importantly for perhaps running a little
out of gas towards the end and failing to grasp some of the inherent
problems with the Menem government - for all that I do think Bernardo
Neustadt loved Argentina and tried to what he could- while taking into
account the demands placed on him by his being a journalist- to move
Argentina in the direction he felt was necessary...

Towards the end of his life Neustadt could not help but be bitter
about what had resulted for Argentina.. I am sure he felt and wanted
nothing more but for Argentina to be a serious developed country much
like the United States or maybe even like Spain or if that were
somehow not possible maybe Chile: an ordered nation of laws where
progress was possible.. but as was the case for many people before him
the indomitable Argentine spirit refused to allow itself to be tamed
and the country became or remains what it is today...It is a testament
to his passion for Argentina that on his last full day he somehow
could not help but write yet another column on the passion that
consumed him...