The Tyranny of Metrics

by Jerry Z. Muller

That is why on sensitive matters, the negotiating process is most effective when it takes place behind closed doors. As Tom Daschle, the Democratic former majority leader of the Senate, has recently observed, the “idea that Washington would work better if there were TV cameras monitoring every conversation gets it exactly wrong…. The lack of opportunities for honest dialogue and creative give-and-take lies at the root of today’s dysfunction.”2 That is also why effective politicians must to some degree be two-faced, pursuing more flexibility in closed negotiations than in their public advocacy. Only when multiple compromises have been made and a deal has been reached can it be subjected to public scrutiny, that is, made transparent.