The Washington Villagers have had their little divertissement over the Leon Panetta-CIA mini-drama, and now they move on (so to speak) to their next entertainment. (By the way, consummate Villager Ruth Marcus whined at being called that in her WaPo chat today, so another well-earned hat tip to Digby!)
But when I saw Dianne Feinstein announce that Barack Obama had "apologized profusely" for not consulting her on the Panetta nomination, I heard a familiar echo in the back of my memory. I had seen this script before.
Sure enough, there was Dustin Hoffman as Michael Dorsey, describing how his female alter ego, Dorothy Michaels ("Tootsie") had outwitted Dabney Coleman's sexist but predictable TV soap director to get his/her way:
He told me what he wanted. I didn't say anything. I did it my way. He bawled me out. I apologized. That was that.
I think Dorothy's smarter than I am.
Michael Dorsey was right. His customary, in-your-face mulishness that made him "too much trouble" to get acting jobs was just like the ritualized, rote confrontation that the Villagers use as the measure of clout and control. But who comes out on top in the end? His Dorothy persona used emotional intelligence -- humility combined with insight into others' motivations, and your own -- to reach an end, unattainable for Dorsey as himself, by wilier, and wiser, means.
Anyone who reads Dreams from My Father with a mind open to learning and observation can see a remarkable individual whose emotional intelligence is a match for his intellectual brilliance. That's what "a first class mind and a first class temperament" means.
Go back and read Michael Dorsey's tactical litany again, in the context of Feinstein and Obama's Panetta choice. Here's the updated version with subtext:
"She told me what she wanted. [To dictate the qualifications of a CIA director without any political base, so she could control him.] I didn't say anything. [At least, not to her.] I did it my way. [And to make unmistakable the signal I was sending her, I had Rahm tell Ron Wyden.] She bawled me out. I apologized. That was that." [Notice who she then immediately endorsed for CIA Director? Who will be there, with his own political base on the Hill, as long as I want him there?]
Just as Paris was "well worth a mass" to Henry IV, getting Leon Panetta to reform the CIA was well worth a moment's private profession of equally ritual apology to the pompous, preening DiFi. Notice that Jello Jay Rockefeller was so irrelevant he didn't even get a nod.
The Villagers are shallow, insufferable, self-absorbed -- and nothing if not predictable. Obama's emotional intelligence puts him six steps ahead of them, and we all just witnessed a textbook demonstration of it.