Let Us Now Praise Power Brokers

There is, of course, a certain appeal to candidates who vow to change the way business is done in Washington and hold out the promise of bringing new people with fresh ideas into the process. God knows, we could use a good dose of that.

But at the same time, there are both silly and dangerous qualities to the current purge.

Over the years, I've had plenty of critical things to say about the way Johnson ran Fannie Mae and his willingness to defend excessive pay packages. He certainly wouldn't be on my list for secretary of the Treasury or chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission.

But if Obama were looking for someone discreet and thorough, with deep experience in presidential campaigns and wide contacts in the Democratic Party who has experience vetting potential running mates, it's hard to think of a better candidate than Johnson.

The problem about this presidential campaign is that it has been too little about the candidates and their programs and too much about drawing deep meaning from whom they hire, who has given political contributions or even where the candidates go to church. It all smacks of a new kind of political correctness in which anyone with an unpopular view, a controversial past or a connection to the political or corporate establishment has to be officially renounced and banished from the political process.

In a way, we've seen this before. Jimmy Carter and Clinton both came to Washington vowing to change the way things were done. Initially, they had broad support from the public and the media. But after the inevitable stumbles, the sentiment turned, and suddenly it was conventional wisdom that they were naive and arrogant and that it was a mistake not to recruit people with more Washington experience.

The lesson from Carter and Clinton is that we need both: a mix of old hands and fresh blood, of time-tested experience and reformist zeal. It may be good politics, and good sport, to rail against the Vernon Jordans, the Jim Johnsons and others in the permanent establishment. But the dirty little secret is that it's folly to try to succeed in Washington without them.

Steven Pearlstein may be reached atpearlsteins@washpost.com.