Nerd For President

Faithful Reader LT points me towards an editorial in the Washington Post calling on the election of more nerds to the highest office in the land.

I'm not entirely convinced. I suspect that it goes without saying that the current administration has been a fair bit too far to the anti-intellectual side for my taste. Probably from watching too many 'aliens invade' movies from the 50's, where the pointy-headed Poindexters in their lab coats were too busy explaining how advanced civilizations would of course be peaceful in their intentions!

So yes, I certainly want a president who is familiar with the basic concepts of the scientific method, maintains a healthy skeptical attitude and wants to hear evidence from every side of an argument before making his decisions. And yes, it would sure be nice to have an administration whose understanding of international relations had progressed slightly beyond the schoolyard system of 'act tough, talk tough, and if things aren't working out, just keep punching harder.' Heck, I wouldn't mind someone who even knew what 'game theory' was, even if he or she couldn't write a grad-level thesis on it.

But there's a lot more to being President than knowing things. One of the major jobs of the office is to provide leadership, and that means understanding people, being able to talk to them, and project both empathy and strength, in equal measure. If the people don't have faith in their leader, that affects the national 'morale', which can have real-world consequences.

This was Bill Clinton's most brilliant feature; although he was nearly as much of a wonk as Jimmy Carter, you never would have caught him telling people the solution to high heating oil prices was to 'put on a sweater.'

Additionally, it is simply not possible for the President to know the most about everything. You need someone smart enough to understand the basic facts of all that various and sundry issues the President has to deal with, but you don't really want a Captain Janeway, always rushing off to singlehandedly solve the most vexing issues, and who seems to know more about everything on the ship than even the crew members who specialize in that subject. Since such a person doesn't exist, you need someone who is aware of their own limits, and knows how to listen to their advisors.

So while you won't find me arguing against the idea that the next (and, for that matter, every) President ought to be significantly more intellectually curious and generally involved than the nap-taking, brush-clearing dolt we have now, I think their are traits that are more important than pure brains in our leaders. If I didn't think that way, I'd be voting for Kucinich, almost certainly the smartest, and absolutely the most honest, Dem in the bunch. But the world just isn't quite ready to follow a 5-foot-7-inch tall vegan pacifist hobbit into the 21st century. It may be a flaw in humanity that we aren't, but it is the case, so we had better get used to it.