Crack up at the cult of competency

Chris Cillizza:

The twin decisions today by former Sen. Tom Daschle and Nancy Killefer to remove their names from consideration for senior level posts in the Obama Administration represent the first significant test for a president who has enjoyed near-historic approval ratings to date.

During his primary and general election campaigns last year and in his transition to the presidency, Obama put a huge emphasis on competency -- the need to put the best people into high-level jobs regardless of past political disagreements or partisan differences.

It's why Obama's choice of Hillary Rodham Clinton for secretary of state was viewed by such a coup inside the White House and why there has been such a focus on finding Republicans -- the latest of which, Sen. Judd Gregg (R-N.H.) was announced as commerce secretary this morning -- to serve in senior Cabinet roles.

Obama said it himself during an interview with Post reporters and editors days before he was sworn in as the nation's 44th president.

"I think if you look at the makeup of our Cabinet, as well as, you know key senior positions in the White House, I think they are characterized by extraordinary quality, extraordinary commitment to public service and they know how government works," said Obama of his picks.

It's that focus on competency -- we dubbed it the "cult of competence" in early December -- however that makes the revelations (and subsequent withdrawals) of Daschle and Killefer all the more dangerous for the president.

At the core of Obama's appeal is that the American people trust him to surround himself with smart people and to arrive at the right conclusions based on his conversations with those people. The Obama brand -- the most powerful brand in American politics -- is centered on that trust, that Obama is an outsider to the political process who is looking beyond traditional partisan interests to shake up the way things are done in Washington.

...

Democrats tend to be arrogant high regard when it comes to their own competency. Remember the Best and Brightest who botched the Vietnam War? It also appears that many of those who were asked to serve in the Obama administration were less than forthcoming on the skeletons in their closet, beginning with Bill Richardson who had the misfortune to shave his beard before having to exit.

Maybe this just goes to show that competent people can be fooled by people eager to join them. But if the administration has this much trouble reading its friends, what can we expect from them in negotiations with Iran. This is definitely not a confidence builder.