Politicians Can Do Things

This morning brought news that President Obama had nominated Congressman John McHugh (R-NY) as the next Secretary of the United States Army.

Now, as the old saying goes: One is a fluke, two is a coincidence, three is a trend. So this may just be a coincidence at this point, but this morning's news reminded me of Obama's choice to be Secretary of the Navy: Former Mississippi Governor Ray Mabus.

Bracketing the remote possibility that Mabus is in fact Nostradamus' third antichrist, this is still a fairly interesting trend, because what McHugh and Mabus have in common is that they're both former politicians. This may seem mundane, but it's actually fairly uncommon for either service secretary to be a former politician. Don't believe me? See here and here: Post-war, Army has had only three pols take the helm, and Navy hasn't had any (though plenty of Navy Secretaries -- Chaffee, Warner, Webb -- have gone on to become pols).

This points at the broader point that the White House seems to be taking a fairly enlightened view of politicians. We tend to think of "politician" as a type of person rather than a skillset, but the word really does describe a demeanor and skillset that is highly applicable to jobs other than holding elected office. Recognizing and drawing on the talents that successful politicians have, particularly for building coalitions (note that McHugh and Mabus both hail from places where the opposite party is arguably politically dominant), is an interesting management insight from our Administrator-In-Chief.