Matt Yglesias

Karl Zinsmeister

Yesterday’s post on Bush’s team of nobodies actually failed to mention the most egregious example of this, the head of Bush’s Domestic Policy Council. Brian Beutler explains:

In case you were on the edge of your seat (and I’m sure all of you were) turns out Karl Zinsmeister–now Bush’s Domestic Policy Council Director–is the former editor of AEI’s old magazine, The American Enterprise. You’ll be surprised to learn that he ran it straight into the ground. Here’s a comprehensive Zinsmeister take down written by one Jamie Kirchick.

You really need to read Kirchick’s piece, the whole thing is embarrassing. By contrast, Melody Barnes is a first-rate person with years of real experience in government and shaping policy.

There’s an adage which holds that first-rate people hire first-rate people, whereas second-rate people hire third-rate people. This, I think, explains a lot about the contrast between the Obama and Bush teams. But it also really makes you wonder about who the people are that Zinsmeister has hired to be his subordinates on the DPC.