More interesting appointments news:
Cass Sunstein to the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs. I'm not ashamed to admit I'm a little disappointed - I had been holding out unlikely hope for a Supreme Court appointment - but I think this an interesting symbolic choice.
I loved Nudge, and read it as, among other things, an argument for government and corporations to conduct their interactions with citizens in a straightforward and accessible way. And yet while regulatory inefficiences are a whipping boy for commentators, policy groups, and both parties - that lame, oft-repeated joke about the Gettysburg address being 286 words while government regulations on the sale of cabbage total 26911 leaps to mind - precious few people are willing to actually do anything about it. It will be an absolutely fascinating experiment to see what happens when someone with a background in behavioral economics and policy design takes the helm of the executive branch's regulatory body.
Sunstein's acceptance also kicks my already-ample respect for him up considerably. One could easily argue that OIRA is a step down in prestige and glamour from the University of Chicago law school, and I think this post signals a true eagerness to put his preaching into practice in the most down-to-brass-tacks possible way.
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as the resident 'Florence and Calamity and Joan of Arc' pedant, i'd like to note that Prof. Sunstein had already left Chicago for Harvard - rumored to be a result of his marriage to Harvard public policy professor Samantha Power.
as an aside, cass has a pretty impressive list of past and current lady-friends: Lisa Riddick (english prof at Chicago and Cass's first wife), Martha Nussbaum (eminent philosopher and Cass's former gf), and Samantha Power. it seems he's making his rounds on the american female intelligentsia. with that in mind, Miss Power should be happy that Cass's move from Cambridge to DC will make interactions with - coquettish? - Christine Korsgaard less likely.
with that said, i'm happy with the appointment, even if it entails a decline in his academic output.
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