What’s the most pressing issue our next president faces? I truly believe that things are so dire this time that it is impossible to pick any one issue, or even just a couple. The president will have to deal with grave security threats, the economy, the budget, health care, immigration, and climate change. But realistically there is room for only one or two more major items. The Arab-Israeli conflict? Our hollowed-out military? The immoral condition of our veterans programs? Infrastructure? Global poverty? Trade liberalization? There ought to be a sanity test for these presidential candidates. Then again, maybe not.
Would you return to work in Washington? Been there, done that, bought the T-shirt. For example, I know perfectly well what the life of a cabinet officer is like. You get moved around like a chess piece, filling your life with chitchat, grandstanding congressional overseers, and gotcha journalists, while folks lower down get to work on the interesting substance. You are continually spending intellectual capital, with only rare opportunities to acquire any. If my friend and former Harvard student Barack Obama is elected, I’ll find a way to help from afar. But I’m cured of Potomac Fever, and totally in love with Berkeley and Boalt.
