7 Comments
User's avatar
Lynn Hunt's avatar

Couldn't agree more. But we here on the west coast wonder if there isn't also a kind of Ivy league disdain for someone who wasn't -- She did go to Brown and was married to Bret Stephens.....

Expand full comment
Dr Surekha Davies's avatar

#Bedbuggate rears its head again! :-)

Expand full comment
Sandy's avatar

Thank you. I've been saying this for years. So frustrated that there is little reporting on all the things he's done and lots of reporting on him misspeaking or tripping. I'm having to convince my French friends of this, too.

Expand full comment
Dr Surekha Davies's avatar

Fun and fascinating. "Whatever a person’s magnetic charm and appeal, an audience has to recognize those qualities as extraordinary for a charismatic bond to form." Yes indeed - and also for the idea of who constitutes a good leader or a good professor (whatever one means by "good"). The audience has to be willing to imagine a person who looks/sounds/dresses like that to be a leader or a professor, and to engage with them in good faith.

Expand full comment
Dan Gordon's avatar

Good one! Perhaps charisma is not the only word or the best word for it, but there is a need for a leader who can pull people together in spite of their differences. I don’t think this is done merely by performing well on the job, in an administrative sense.

Expand full comment
David A. Bell's avatar

Agreed!

Expand full comment
Constancia Warren's avatar

Thank you! Sadly, our history reveals a particular fondness for hucksters and frauds, including in the political arena. Here's to competence and commitment.

Expand full comment