How to know when you need to know how much you don’t know

(via marginalrevolution, via Ross Douthat)

From David Frum’s blog for the National Review Online:

A president does not need to know everything. In fact, it’s certainly impossible for him (or her) to know everything that he might possibly need to know. That’s what the White House staff - and beyond them the whole vast apparatus of the US government - is for. Collectively, the US government knows a lot. And all of that knowledge is at the service and disposal of the president. All the president has to do is - is ask.

But that’s not as easy as it sounds.

Somebody who knew President Bush well once remarked to me. “You’ll notice he never asks questions.”

“Why not?” I said.

“Because he doesn’t know what it’s okay for him not to know.”

I’ve mentioned the above quotes a couple of times in the last week discussing the presidential election with friends.  At the end of the day, when voting for a leader, you can’t know what the crisis will be that they will have to face.  This means that the ability to make good judgments in the face of limited evidence in areas where they are not experts should be at the top of the list for potential presidents.  Unfortunately, modern election campaigns make it literally impossible to evaluate someone in this light.

Chruchills’ quote about democracy being the worst form of government in the history of the world except for all the other alternatives comes to mind.

UPDATE:

I feel like the above anecdote may be worth thinking about in watching this video.  One of the biggest knocks I’ve heard against McCain’s VP nominee is that she seems incapable of admitting when she doesn’t know something.  It’s disconcerting to realise that she, like Bush, also may not know how much she doesn’t know: