evious generations provided extraordinary public service, no longer qualify as presidential appointees. Not because they are crooks or cheats but because they have been engaged in activities--often on the cutting edge of progress--that immersed them in lawsuits, closely connected them with foreign governments or unsavory clients, or made them very rich. Controversy has been part of their lives, as it often is when creative people push the envelope. Many such people now have no interest in being presidential appointees, even if the opportunity presents itself. They have no wish to have every aspect of their personal and professional lives scraped over by the president’s enemies. They do not want to be held hostage for months on end in a policy battle between the administration and a single senator. They do not want to be drawn into political endgames in which they have no stake. They only want to serve their country. But the price of that service has become too high.What is most distressing ultimately is the transcendent loss of purpose in the appointment process. The American model did not always work perfectly, but it was informed by a grand notion. The business of the people would be managed by leaders drawn from the people. Cincinnatus, in-and-outers, noncareer managers--with every election would come a new sweep of the country for high energy and new ideas and fresh visions. The president’s team would assume its place and impose the people’s wishes on the great agencies of government. Not infrequently, it actually worked that way.But these days, the model fails on nearly all counts. Most appointees do not come from the countryside, brimming with new energy and ideas. Much more often they come from congressional staffs or think tanks or interest groups--not from across the country but from across the street: interchangeable public elites, engaged in an insiders’ game. The Federal Reserve Board of Governors dur...
