DeLong's Rule

Brad DeLong is unhappy with Obama:

I think that the general rule in the future should be that nobody who has not served a full term as a state governor or managed a similarly large organization should be supported in any presidential run. FDR and DDE are certainly the class acts of the twentieth century.

Jonathan Bernstein thinks this rule is too rigid, since it excludes Harry Truman.

Still, it's interesting to reflect on executive experience as a qualifier for a Presidential run.

Never was the cultural clash between presidential ambition and executive experience on greater display than when contrasting Dwight Eisenhower, and his Vice President, Richard Nixon.

Eisenhower lavished affection and attention on colleagues whom he considered his compatriots: people who ran large organizations or who performed great deeds - mid-20th-Century style CEOs, for the most part (not at all like today's financial-lizard CEOs). Wonderful people, for the most part, and if not, at least captivating company.

Ike couldn't figure out how to use folks like Nixon. Instead of doing something big, like seizing Guam or Saipan, or feeding millions of refugees, Nixon spent WWII running a small Pacific-island commissary. Nixon's greatest skills seemed to involve winning messy elections, usually by sliming his opponents as a communists. While an important skill, Eisenhower found nothing to admire there. If only Nixon had some REAL experience!

Well, considering how Nixon turned out, maybe Ike had a point.

So Delong's rule is an important guideline, but it's still too rigid. People can gather executive experience in less-noticed ways.

Why was Harry Truman an effective chief executive? Harry Truman had practical army leadership experience, as an artillery officer in World War I. It's not on the same scale of Eisenhower's feats, of course, but it is still useful experience: to personally lead troops into harm's way and directly experience the consequences of one's decisions. Woodrow Wilson was President of Princeton. Not bad! Herding faculty is harder than herding cats! Teddy Roosevelt assembled his Rough Riders with his energetic organizational skills. Not everyone can do that! Even running a campaign is a form of executive experience.

The wonder, of course, is how Abraham Lincoln did so well as President, given his limited experiences as a lawyer and single-term congressman. Lincoln, Truman and Teddy Roosevelt were voracious readers of history, however, and all the examples of history do have an impact on one's decisions in office. A deep understanding of history is an important crutch for Presidents.

Another wonder is how badly Herbert Hoover did as President, after his amazing exploits in European WWI refugee relief efforts. Executive experience is important, but not the only thing. Maybe, fundamentally, Hoover was an engineer, and not a reader of history at all. Engineers often misread people and events (as one, I should know!)

Obama's executive experience is thin. It's important to note, with reference to the 2008 election, that McCain's executive experience, however admirable his endurance in prison, is also thin. Dashing flyboys like McCain never really ran much beyond their own planes.

Oftentimes, election choices aren't so great.