Obama's Cabinet Candidates: Harvard Rules and Wisdom Wanes

Americans seem mesmerized by the emerging list of potential cabinet members being interviewed for jobs. Brilliant! Assertive! "The Genius Cabinet" gushes Slate writer Jacob Weisberg. Larry Summers? Wow! Joel Klein? Whew!

Calm down, folks. What's wanted in anyone's cabinet is not brilliance but judgment. Not genius but wisdom. And the former is a lousy predictor of the latter. Like Summers and Klein, a number of the wannabes are arrogant and unlistening. Known for what they know and where they went to school (like Harvard and Yale).

Summers folded as Harvard's President not because he said something politically incorrect about women (too baby-obsessed to be good scientists) or tried to tell one of America's leading public intellectuals (Cornel West) how to be a "good" scholar, but because he was seen as dismissive of faculty, indifferent to contrarian ideas and unwilling to listen to others - traits he had shown during his tenure with the Clinton administration.

Joel Klein's career as chief education honcho for New York City has been marked by a similar disrespect for teachers and parents, and a techno-corporate approach to education that, while putatively wedded to equal opportunity, has been completely tone-deaf to the communities he supposedly serves. He knows a lot and knows it. But he lacks elementary judgment.

President Obama will be in need of counselors with wisdom as well as smarts, and will quickly learn that arrogance isn't merely a "defect of a superior mind" (as Weisberg puts it), but a form of deafness that incapacitates the hubristic for leadership. Oedipus was smart as they come, but, as I recall, made a terrible king.

Because Obama is himself reflective, patient and thoughtful, people conclude he can afford to surround himself with reckless brilliance. Not. He needs cabinet officers who are equally apt judges of people and policy. Shouting is not strength and self-promotion is not perception.

And what's with the Harvard thing? All but a few of those being discussed for office have secured degrees at Harvard (or the Harvard default school, Yale). Not even Oxford and Cambridge any longer pretend to produce Britain's ruling class by themselves. Should Harvard and Yale dictate who serves democratic (and Democratic) America?

Seriously Mr. President-Elect, though you're a Harvard man, you are from Chicago and points West, all the way to Kansas, Hawaii and Indonesia. One of the benefits of your election ought to be a holiday from self-promoting Harvard "brilliance." How about a few public school and public (state) university appointments? Take it from someone with a Harvard M.A. and Ph.D., the Ivies don't have a monopoly on wisdom. Or even necessarily know what it is.

Read more at HuffPost's Obama Cabinet Big News Page

Comments

[Cowboylove]

02:46 AM on 11/22/2008

I am amazed at how ruthless and arrogant the pundits are in criticizin­g Obama's foolish cabinet choices before they have even been made. Perhaps there should be a small exercise of patience and give Obama a chance to announce his choices before calling them elitist and out of touch.

I di not go to Harvard, but I have many friend who did. I must confess I am not overly impressed, but neither do I consider them buffoons. Obama is going to need brilliant people who are wise and have demonstrat­ed good judgment. He may be more familiar with graduates of Harvard, since many are also friends. At any rate, lets allow the cabinet to be formed and go to work. At least let's give them until the end of January - 11 days in office to make a judgment on competence­. Until then, here is one guy who would appreciate a little less bluster.

[dillis]

06:38 PM on 11/21/2008

I'm a Harvard grad student and am dismayed to read the comments above.

How many of you have met [a statistica­lly-signif­icant number of] Harvard students? I've been here for three years, and cannot say that there are more arrogant people here than at U.Michigan­, where I studied as an undergrad. The truth is that most Harvard students are incredibly nice people who just love learning.

The popular stereotype of the "Master of the Universe" Harvard student probably comes from the movie Good Will Hunting. Note that in the 60s, the stereotype was completely different.­..Harvard students were usually portrayed as grungy intellectu­al types.

I could go on about the achievemen­ts of Harvard alumni in just about every field, as well as the university­'s #1 position in the internatio­nal rankings..­. but you would probably construe that as arrogance. Oh well.

[dillis]

05:22 PM on 11/21/2008

I'm a Harvard grad student and am dismayed to read the comments above.

How many of you have met [a statistica­lly-signif­icant number of] Harvard students? I've been here for three years, and cannot say that there are more arrogant people here than at U.Michigan­, where I studied as an undergrad. The truth is that most Harvard students are incredibly nice people who just love learning.

The popular stereotype of the "Master of the Universe" Harvard student probably comes from the movie Good Will Hunting. Note that in the 60s, the stereotype was completely different.­..Harvard students were usually portrayed as grungy intellectu­al types.

I could go on about the achievemen­ts of Harvard alumni in just about every field, as well as the university­'s position in the internatio­nal rankings..­. but you would probably construe that as arrogance. Oh well.

[LHK]

04:29 PM on 11/21/2008

I hope we don't lose Joel Klein in NYC. He has infused accountabi­lity in the Public Schools.

[Ann Kjellberg]

12:41 AM on 11/24/2008

Are you a real person? I've never heard an NYC public school parent say such a thing. To us "accountab­ility" has become an empty propaganda word denoting proliferat­ing standardiz­ed testing and test prep and phony statistics that randomly elevate and penalize schools, teachers, principals­, and students.

[Citizen54]

02:49 PM on 11/19/2008

Maybe the "Change" we're going to see is mainly a replacemen­t of the Yale secret society (Skull & Bones) with dudes from Harvard's secret society. This country has always been run by the sons of the Ivy League, and that's never going to change.

[wandering girl]

04:31 PM on 11/19/2008

"This country has always been run by the sons of the Ivy League, and that's never going to change."

wrong.
http://en.­wikipedia.­org/wiki/L­ist_of_Uni­ted_States­_President­s_by_colle­ge_educati­on

[Rule Of Law]

11:03 PM on 11/19/2008

So, some of our presidents are not ivy league. Most of Wall Street is, and they are the true power in this country.

[jeg]

08:56 AM on 11/19/2008

Fascinatin­g. You're basing your entire column on people who haven't been confirmed as having been offered *anything*­, and completely ignoring the people who've actually been announced.

Good luck with that.

[jbatch]

09:16 AM on 11/19/2008

No, actually he was using the floated names to point out the dangers of assuming those possessed with brilliance and genius would also possess wisdom and judgment, and preeminenc­e of the latter over the former.

These are incredibly valuable and important insights -- I hope Obama reads and heeds.

[Yermammy]

08:53 AM on 11/19/2008

VERY good article! You have to be comfortabl­e in your own skin and have the temperamen­t to lead. That's exactly why Hillary Clinton would be a disaster as SOS. Put Chuck Hagel there. He's been an actual foot soldier in War and will take no guff, yet doesn't give any either. Put Hillary on the Bench and let her oversize ego simmer there.

[jbatch]

09:16 AM on 11/19/2008

I agree, bench her.

[RickO]

07:46 AM on 11/19/2008

You may have overlooked Stanford. Listening to the lecture Eric Schmidt gave on CSpan2 yesterday about the role of technology in the Obama admin, I got the distinct impression that the Google folks are playing more of a role, working the problems. Considerin­g what they've been able to do, that's one heck of a think tank.

[bobh]

07:16 AM on 11/19/2008

You can just hear Sarah Palin in 2012 ranting about "The Harvards" running the country from the "Harvard Boutique".

[ObjectiveRealist]

02:02 AM on 11/19/2008

So, who would you prefer, and why? Just one of Obama's picks, the alternativ­e you'd prefer, and the reasoning for your preference will do.

[
Calm down, folks. What's wanted in anyone's cabinet is not brilliance but judgment.
]

In my cabinet, I normally look first for canned food, dishes, or toiletries­, depending on the location of the cabinet. Or, did you mean "Cabinet"?

[
Not genius but wisdom. And the former is a lousy predictor of the latter.
]

Are wisdom and genius now negatively correlated­? No? Then, is the coefficien­t zero, or positive? What are your specific complaints about his choices, before President Obama or any of his appointees even begin the work we're supposedly critiquing­?

[
"The Genius Cabinet" gushes Slate writer Jacob Weisberg. Larry Summers? Wow! Joel Klein? Whew!
]

They're just relieved that this President can read.

[Yermammy]

08:54 AM on 11/19/2008

Do you always feel the need to make the comment section 750 pages long? Condense it, please.

[lafrance]

09:45 PM on 11/18/2008

I think far too many people are willing to play armchair quarterbac­k and nitpick over who Obama picks and who they think he should pick and nitpick over why it's wrong or right.
Frankly, this is obama's decision. He has his vision and knows what he wants to do and accomplish and the kind of people who will fit in with this.
I think rather then play armchair quarterbac­k people need to just let this man pick his people and see how it goes. Only Obama knows who and what he looking for and why. And what his vision is.
The thing I care about most is quality. I don't care if they are black or white or purple. Male or female or both. I don't care if they worked for Reagan, clinton or whoever else. If they went to Harvard or a community college. ect. All I care about is if he picks the best he can find. The most effective and best people around.
It is not for us to dictate or to criticize this. We are not elected to clean all the mess up and fix everything­. We are not elected to take on this huge responsibi­lity.
therefore, we need to let the man we did elect find the people he feels is the best to help him and to trust in this judgment and see what they can do before we play armchair quarterbac­k and start bitching.

[Rule Of Law]

08:58 PM on 11/18/2008

The Axis of Weasels, Hahvard, Yale, and Princeton. Nothing but a minor league system for the Wall Street Elites that are currently running our country.

[canucklivinginUSA]

10:53 PM on 11/18/2008

Since you can't even spell Harvard right, I am going to assume that you are one of Palin's crew

[Rule Of Law]

01:41 AM on 11/19/2008

Aw, c'mon! You know a Bahston accent when you see one, right?

[mwestorca]

08:30 PM on 11/18/2008

One of the reasons I voted for Obama is that I think he's a pretty smart guy - and knows how to put together a successful team - so I'm for letting him do it his way for now. Everyone knew lots of reasons he couldn't possibly be successful in his run for the White House . . . but he knew what he was trying to accomplish­, and he did it.

So let's give him the benefit of the doubt - and let him assemble his own team. I would never have chosen Hillary as SOS, or advised the Dems to let Lieberman keep his post - but I figure he's earned the right to do it his way, at least for now.

(As long as he keeps writing/sa­ying those lovely coherent sentences, and making me feel like there's hope for American ideals to re-emerge, anyway.)

[HybridTea]

08:22 PM on 11/18/2008

The most important quality we seek is that the President will be wise (beyond his years), have integrity, and defend the constituti­on at all costs. Do we know that Obama is all this? All we know is that George Bush was not any one of these. If Obama doesn't have the qualities of the President we voted for, all the rest really doesn't matter a whole lot - Harvard or Iowa State.

[renatam]

08:03 PM on 11/18/2008

How many Harvard and Yale were running money at the banks, insurance cos. and investment banks on Wall Street -- that hard working Americans are now bailing out? How many have (again) run the auto industries into a hole?

Isn't George W. Bush a Yale and Harvard alumnus???

[Rule Of Law]

09:00 PM on 11/18/2008

It's family, bloodlines­, and old school ties. Barber isn't ready to go there quite yet.

[Yermammy]

09:17 AM on 11/19/2008

Very few "journalis­ts" have the sack for that.

[canucklivinginUSA]

10:55 PM on 11/18/2008

So, according to you , anyone coming out of Harvard or Yale are bad? Wait a minute, isn't Michelle and Barack from Harvard and Yale? Oh my God, we have elected a bad person, RUN!