What We Need Now: An Ungrateful President

Barack Obama won an overwhelming electoral college and popular victory. He, more than any other president in recent history, has a clear mandate. More important, he owes his election to no particular individual, no group, no specific constituency, or no ideology. He won the election because he was an overwhelmingly superior candidate who ran an extraordinary campaign.

Now he faces one of the most difficult and challenging environments ever faced by an incoming president. He needs the very best people at his side. He should pick them based entirely on their merits. Only the most qualified individuals should be appointed to the most important positions, without regard to who they supported in the primaries, the amount of money they contributed to the campaign or the constituency they claim to represent. Choosing the best people to get us out of the difficulties we face should be like choosing a heart surgeon or an oncologist.

One of the first tests President-elect Obama will face is his selection of Treasury Secretary and other members of his economic team. If former Harvard president Larry Summers is the best qualified person to get us out of our economic crisis, he should be appointed, regardless of whether he offended some of Obama's constituents by comments he made while President of Harvard. A nation in crisis cannot afford litmus tests based on political correctness or the risk of offending some easily offended constituents.

Nor should the President necessarily seek the kind of precise ethnic, gender or racial balance that some will demand of him. His very election demonstrates that merit selection will produce balance without self conscience efforts to impose quotas, targets or other euphemisms for selections based on criteria other than pure merit, broadly defined.

The same criteria should apply in the filling of other critical cabinet positions such as Secretary of State and Attorney General. These are not rewards for past services performed to the candidate, to the party or even to the country. The people who are appointed to these positions will determine the future of our nation and of the world.

When Fiorello LaGuardia was elected Mayor of New York, he announced to his followers that he was going to be the most ungrateful mayor in history, because he was not going to show gratitude for those who helped elect him. He was the mayor of the whole city and he was going to pick the people best for the whole city. He turned out to be one of the greatest mayors in American history. Barack Obama should show the same type of ingratitude to those who helped him get elected. He is the President of the whole country, indeed the leader of the entire free world. In selecting his team, he should look to future opportunities -- to how he can help solve the critical problems of the nation and the world -- and not to past obligations.

Comments

[LewsTherin]

And indeed Barack is showing the the same type of ingratitude to those who helped him get elected...

[canucklivinginUSA]

Thank you Mr.Dershow­itz for basically stating what I have been saying for the past week. The man needs to be surround by the best people so we can get out of this mess. Bush is intent to burn down this country and Obama will need to best firemen to extinguish the fires already ignited. Allegiances should not be honored if they are not deserving

[BCubedReg]

Mr. Dershowitz, I have read a lot of your work. Sir, hopefully you are on his short list for a post as well.

[OtayPanky]

Agree 100%.

We need a meritocracy in the executive branch after 8 years of ignorance and venality.

[MsLiz]

Is Dershowitz hoping for a Supreme Court appointment?

Instead, here are my suggestions: Anita Hill, just to piss off Clarence Thomas. Lawrence Tribe, because the Constitution is sacred. Martha Morgan, because she was my con law professor.

[larry278]

The kicker is, "If Larry Summers is best qualified.­..". Many will say that Larry Summers is best qualified to show the terrible thing that a terminal case of hubris can do to a human being when the always fatal condition of hubris isn't treated by a competent practitioner. Appointing Larry Summer to be Secretary of the Treasury will cause witty Brits to create some mean spirited but true phrase similar to, "...dull, duller, Dulles..."­, when John Foster Dulles was Secretary of State. When the Brit's smarmy, but true, phrase reaches the USA it will be scrawled on rest room walls. Those damned Brits are so cruel when we Americans make a mistake. Remember the UK headline when W won in '04, "How Can So Many Be So Stupid?". BTW, how could so many of us be so stupid?

[dizmo4]

Quite Honestly, I would like to see Mike Bloomberg be tapped as Treasury Secretary.

But lets be honest here, the media makes the Treas. Secretary job more important than it really is. Whoever Obama picks as his Sec of Treasury, he's not going to be able to do much more than Paulson. To get the economy back on track, Obama needs to have the courage to propose bold plans.

By Bold I mean, massive public works. Every state, every city has a list of approved construction projects that need to be done, the only thing that is lack is money. A President Obama should turn on the cash flow and fund those projects and more. You create thousands of jobs right away in construction. Thousands more will be created in manufacturing that will provide the materials to be used in construction. Tangential business like restaurants will benefit by increased business and will hire more employees. And the ripple effect will continue. Creating jobs is by far the most effective stimulus package.

Secondly, by building infrastructure, you lay the foundation for a "green economy," which is the future.

I just hope that President Obama and the Congress have the courage to think bold.

[canucklivinginUSA]

I definitely think president Obama has the gonads to do it and as for the Congress, there is a reason why Emanuel is a key appointment. To give Pelosi and her gang some gonads too

[beckerbeavers]

I agree to a great extent with the wisdom of Alan Dershowitz. Here's my All-Star Line Up:
Homeland Security --- Richard Clarke
Secretary of Defense -- Wes Clark or Jack Reed - YOU DEFINITELY NEED A DEMOCRAT for a change
BOB GATES is great but you need to have your OWN PERSON.
National Security Advisor - General Zinni, Dennis Ross or Susan Rice
Treasury - Robert Rubin if he wants to come back or Timothy Geithner
Secretary of State - a no brainer -- Bill Richardson - this man knows how to negotiate with world leaders - ISN'T That a strong reason for choosing a secretary of state.
Secretary of Energy - Jeff Bingaman or Chuck Hagel
Attorney General - Deval Patrick
Other posts can go for Republicans, Independents, etc.
Ambassador to the UN - Caroline Kennedy
Secretary of Health --- a no brainer - Howard Dean

[schatsie]

Not Robert Rubin, he did not catch the GRAMM amendment to prevent regulation of derivatives when Clinton was president.­.... That should never have been allowed... No more goldman sachs people, there are other people like Alice Rivlin and Stiglitz who could manage this as well as the Goldman Sachs people....­.

[RRonin]

Professor Dershowitz makes a strong pragmatic arguement, and we know B. O. is a pragmatist. But there is something to be said for qualities that are less tangible, that don't translate well on paper. There's something be said for heart, humanity, compassion, courage, and, yes, even loyalty. And it is impossible to measure the weight of a soul, but it still matters.

[Skepticat]

One of the most helpful ungrateful attitudes might be to be less adoring of Likudnik Israel and use improving diplomatic skills to help broker a lasting peace treaty like the one between Israel & Egypt.
Not only could this greatly help Israel & the Palestinians if it were accomplished - but would also remove a source of poor relations between the US and the rest of the Arab world.

[StanDaMan]

You got that right.

[CSDofNM]

Alan's argument is flawed. Who would you want asking a foreign government to release you or to spare your life, Bill Richardson or Alan Dershowitz? Who would Barack trust enough to send? For me, it is the same answer, and I hope he becomes Secretary of State, not only because he is more qualified, but because he actually worked to get Barack elected. Also because I think my chances of survival would be better.

Like most lawyers, Barack sees things as some type of compromise. Alan sees them as some type of argument you win or you lose. The best experts in every field, to be appointed to Alan's hypothetical cabinet, would be a group of prima donnas with no record of accomplishment, no ability to work together.

Since Alan's meritocray has no engineering "metric of utility", it would be just as disasterous as George Bush's system of patronage. And we all know how well THAT worked out. Heck 'uva job, brown nosie!

[obac]

Good point, in terms of a strategy that every politician can take home. But it just doesn't seem to fit as something Obama should be lectured on. Also, since I dislike your views in general, here's something else to chew on: :P

You support colonialism.

[LizM]

Excellent post! I just knew that I would agree wholeheartedly with something Alan Dershowitz said, sooner or later. This post is bang on!

[CitizenE]

It's hard to imagine the difficulty of the task of the Presidency. Obama is of serious turn of mind, with clearly and repeatedly stated objectives in governance; that is, he has his biases, and to enact those policy biases the majority of voters elected him. Of course, there will be times when he has to expand beyond his philosophical base, and not just to the starboard, but portside as well. Obama wants to solve problems, so I would imagine his hiring practices, while of course to some degree, and rightly so, encouraging a shared philosophy, will be focused on finding people with problem solving skills and temperments. He also seems to wisely wish to court a hearing with ideas and perspectives that challenge his, and on this point I agree with Mr. Dershowitz; there he should put his foot down on political correctness from right to center to left. Part of the Bush years' and current Republlican/ conservative failure is that they could not imagine getting out of their own bubble, even when reality continued to smack them upside the head. Obama's no-drama, he should want to break down the political bubble that can warp the Presidency and might keep him from anticipating events and finding himself, and thus the nation, as flatfooted as Bush did.

[canucklivinginUSA]

Exactly! Btw, I am glad that there are at least intelligent people on this blog that gets it

[Genisa]

I agree. We are in a time of crisis and we need the best minds we have to figure a way out. It's easy to fall into the trap of having to appear diverse or to take care of people who took care of you, but at the expense of a more qualified person is simply something we cannot afford right now.

[sage2008]

So brilliant