Sandel's Philosophy Indfluences Clinton's Political Rhetoric

Students enrolled in Moral Reasoning 22 say that when the professor lectures about Communitarian philosophy, everyone ardently takes notes.

President Clinton had a similar compulsion during a White House dinner in November when Professor of Government Michael J. Sandel discussed the importance of community values in society.

Intrigued by Sandel's words, Clinton asked the White House usher for a pen so he could take notes on the back of his menu.

The notes, scribbled in between mouthfuls, were to inspire much of Clinton's subsequent visionary political rhetoric--the need to reasses community and moral values in America.

Though the President invited a dozen scholars, including Eaton Professor of the Science of Government Samuel P. Huntington, Dillon Professor of Government Emeritus Richard E. Neustadt and University of Chicago sociologist William Julius Wilson, Sandel made a particularly resonant impression on Clinton, insiders say.

"I know for a fact that the President was impressed with the quality of Michel's insights," New York Times political reporter Thomas L. Friedman says. "The discussion gave the President an opportunity to think through things he intuitively felt."

Friedman says Sandel helped President Clinton "crystallize his thoughts" and develop them in several public forums, including a speech to Black ministers in Memphis, one to movie moguls in Los Angeles and even in his most recent State of the

Union Address.

The November discussions, which extended beyondthe dinig room to an informal after-dinner"seminar," allowed the President to solicitreflections on his presidency, says ColumbiaUniversity historian Alan Brinkley, who alsoattended the meeting.

"Some of us encouraged President Clinton tostep back from the details of policy to articulatea broader moral vision for his presidency," Sandelsays. "In his Memphis speech and in the State ofthe Union address he has begun to do this veryeffectively."The President seems to have taken Sandel'sscholarly communitarian theory--which emphasizesthe interrelating value systems amongcommunities--and incorporated it into a preachableand practical theme.

"Clinton was impressed by the way Michael wasable to integrate the operational tendencies ofthe President with his own philosophical insightinto the President's public discourse," Friedmansays.

"Michael puts it all together in a way onlyMichael can," adds Friedman, who studied withSandel from grade School in St. Paul, Minnesota,through their undergraduate educations together atBrandeis University, and later at Oxford.

The emphasis on shared community values hastraditionally been included in the rhetoric ofconservative politicians, but Clinton has made itan important aspect of his progressive message.

It is a vision of community which, he says,will lead this nation peacefully into the 21stcentury.

"Let's be honest. Our problems go way beyondthe reach of any government program. They arerooted in the loss of values, the disappearance ofwork and the breakdown of our families and ourcommunities," the President said in his January 25address before Congress. "The American people mustwant to change within, if we are to bring backwork, family and community."

Even Vice President Al Gore '69 has picked upon the administration's emphasis on the community.In words that echoed those of President Clinton'sin Memphis less than a month earlier, Goredelivered a speech at Harvard's Kennedy School ofGovernment on December 6 where he introduced athree-step plan to empower inner-city andpoverty-stricken communities.

"Communities are suffering from a vicioustautology: failure that feeds upon failure," Goresaid. "The result: communities where drug dealersare role models and where kids plan their ownfunerals."

But Sandel downplays his impact on Clinton'sdeveloping vision and his role in Washington.Anxious to appear discreet, he says that"professors kibbutzing on the sidelines should notexaggerate their own importance. My role has infact been very small."

Sandel's modesty belies the influence whichpoliticians, scholars and reporters alike haveattributed to him in Washington, Boston and NewYork.

The New Yorker, The New York Times, and TheWall Street Journal have each reported on Sandel'srapidly increasing political clout. An Op-Ed piecewhich ran in the Journal on December 15 deemsSandel the participant [at the dinner] who"delivered the most compelling call to rhetoricalaction."

"When the history of the Clinton presidency iswritten, the little-known events of November 5will come to occupy a place of significance,"Journal columnist Gerald F. Seie predicts. "Thatwas the night when Bill Clinton resolved to begintalking to the country's soul, not just to itsmind and its pocketbook."

Clinton advisor George Stephanopoulos even wentso far as to publicly characterize the impact ofthe discussion as "big, big."

Insiders who emphasize Clinton's discussionswith Sandel say the Harvard professor allowed thePresident to return to the political roots hedemonstrated to the country during hispresidential campaign--roots he had originallyformulated as a leader of the moderate DemocraticLeadership Council.

White House chief pollster Stanley Greenberg,who organized the President's dinner,characterizes Sandel's impact on Clinton as"almost a release, allowing him to go back to theway he understands political life."

But Sandel himself won't tell you that."Michael would always be the first one to tell youthat other people were there and voicing similaropinions," Friedman notes.

And some of the dozen scholars who attended thedinner and subsequent day-long meeting with seniorWhite House staffers still insist they are moreakin to new artillery in Clinton's battle to meetthe demands of his presidency than risingpolitical stars.

"At the time we met with the President he wasstill at a low point in his Administration,"Brinkley says. "I suspect that some of hisadvisors were hoping Clinton would be morereceptive to new ideas coming from a group ofscholars than from within the White House."

Brinkley adds that the ideas articulated by thescholars were new neither to the staffers nor tothe President.

"I don't think that we convinced anyone ofanything they hadn't already been familiar with,or were not in some way already convinced of,"Brinkley says of the dinner and meetings. "ThePresident and his staff simply needed a chance tostep back from the daily pressure of thepresidency and find some persepective."

A recommitment to a common morality, with itsroots in communitarianism, also seems to be animportant aspect of Sandel's advice that thePresident has taken to heart.

"Michael spoke about the need for a languagethat transcends the nuts and bolts of everydayliberal politics, one that adds a moral dimensionto the vision," Brinkley says. "Certainly some of[Clinton's] more recent speeches reflect a newawareness of what seems to be his goal: to speakas less of a technocrat and more as a moralleader."

Brinkley elaborated this analysis in an Op-Edcolumn about the State of the Union address hepublished in The New York Times last Thursday.

Sandel has long been the prominent spokespersonfor the political philosophy that has come to fallunder the label "Communitarianism," says Brinkleywho worked faculty member at Harvard between 1982and 1988.

"Basically Michael's idea is that liberalpolitical philosophy is missing its moral center,which is a relatively new set of ideas to emergeform the `left,'" Brinkley says.

While Republican rhetoricians have long beenfamiliar with the notion of "moral values,"Sandel's mission is to bring the language of moraldiscourse to the progressives on the other side,Brinkley adds.

Return to Academic Life?

While behind the scenes Sandel is affecting thepublic discourse of the Clinton administration, atHarvard he has almost completed his secondbook--an investigation of the cost to societyAmerica incurred in indulging in its preoccupationwith liberal principles.

This is one of the few accomplishments to whichSandel will publicly admits.

This professor who lectures the most populatedclass at Harvard shies away from public attentionand refuses to comment for the record on any ofhis public or personal achievements.CrimsonJennifer J. BalkMICHAEL J. SANDEL

Union Address.

The November discussions, which extended beyondthe dinig room to an informal after-dinner"seminar," allowed the President to solicitreflections on his presidency, says ColumbiaUniversity historian Alan Brinkley, who alsoattended the meeting.

"Some of us encouraged President Clinton tostep back from the details of policy to articulatea broader moral vision for his presidency," Sandelsays. "In his Memphis speech and in the State ofthe Union address he has begun to do this veryeffectively."The President seems to have taken Sandel'sscholarly communitarian theory--which emphasizesthe interrelating value systems amongcommunities--and incorporated it into a preachableand practical theme.

"Clinton was impressed by the way Michael wasable to integrate the operational tendencies ofthe President with his own philosophical insightinto the President's public discourse," Friedmansays.

"Michael puts it all together in a way onlyMichael can," adds Friedman, who studied withSandel from grade School in St. Paul, Minnesota,through their undergraduate educations together atBrandeis University, and later at Oxford.

The emphasis on shared community values hastraditionally been included in the rhetoric ofconservative politicians, but Clinton has made itan important aspect of his progressive message.

It is a vision of community which, he says,will lead this nation peacefully into the 21stcentury.

"Let's be honest. Our problems go way beyondthe reach of any government program. They arerooted in the loss of values, the disappearance ofwork and the breakdown of our families and ourcommunities," the President said in his January 25address before Congress. "The American people mustwant to change within, if we are to bring backwork, family and community."

Even Vice President Al Gore '69 has picked upon the administration's emphasis on the community.In words that echoed those of President Clinton'sin Memphis less than a month earlier, Goredelivered a speech at Harvard's Kennedy School ofGovernment on December 6 where he introduced athree-step plan to empower inner-city andpoverty-stricken communities.

"Communities are suffering from a vicioustautology: failure that feeds upon failure," Goresaid. "The result: communities where drug dealersare role models and where kids plan their ownfunerals."

But Sandel downplays his impact on Clinton'sdeveloping vision and his role in Washington.Anxious to appear discreet, he says that"professors kibbutzing on the sidelines should notexaggerate their own importance. My role has infact been very small."

Sandel's modesty belies the influence whichpoliticians, scholars and reporters alike haveattributed to him in Washington, Boston and NewYork.

The New Yorker, The New York Times, and TheWall Street Journal have each reported on Sandel'srapidly increasing political clout. An Op-Ed piecewhich ran in the Journal on December 15 deemsSandel the participant [at the dinner] who"delivered the most compelling call to rhetoricalaction."

"When the history of the Clinton presidency iswritten, the little-known events of November 5will come to occupy a place of significance,"Journal columnist Gerald F. Seie predicts. "Thatwas the night when Bill Clinton resolved to begintalking to the country's soul, not just to itsmind and its pocketbook."

Clinton advisor George Stephanopoulos even wentso far as to publicly characterize the impact ofthe discussion as "big, big."

Insiders who emphasize Clinton's discussionswith Sandel say the Harvard professor allowed thePresident to return to the political roots hedemonstrated to the country during hispresidential campaign--roots he had originallyformulated as a leader of the moderate DemocraticLeadership Council.

White House chief pollster Stanley Greenberg,who organized the President's dinner,characterizes Sandel's impact on Clinton as"almost a release, allowing him to go back to theway he understands political life."

But Sandel himself won't tell you that."Michael would always be the first one to tell youthat other people were there and voicing similaropinions," Friedman notes.

And some of the dozen scholars who attended thedinner and subsequent day-long meeting with seniorWhite House staffers still insist they are moreakin to new artillery in Clinton's battle to meetthe demands of his presidency than risingpolitical stars.

"At the time we met with the President he wasstill at a low point in his Administration,"Brinkley says. "I suspect that some of hisadvisors were hoping Clinton would be morereceptive to new ideas coming from a group ofscholars than from within the White House."

Brinkley adds that the ideas articulated by thescholars were new neither to the staffers nor tothe President.

"I don't think that we convinced anyone ofanything they hadn't already been familiar with,or were not in some way already convinced of,"Brinkley says of the dinner and meetings. "ThePresident and his staff simply needed a chance tostep back from the daily pressure of thepresidency and find some persepective."

A recommitment to a common morality, with itsroots in communitarianism, also seems to be animportant aspect of Sandel's advice that thePresident has taken to heart.

"Michael spoke about the need for a languagethat transcends the nuts and bolts of everydayliberal politics, one that adds a moral dimensionto the vision," Brinkley says. "Certainly some of[Clinton's] more recent speeches reflect a newawareness of what seems to be his goal: to speakas less of a technocrat and more as a moralleader."

Brinkley elaborated this analysis in an Op-Edcolumn about the State of the Union address hepublished in The New York Times last Thursday.

Sandel has long been the prominent spokespersonfor the political philosophy that has come to fallunder the label "Communitarianism," says Brinkleywho worked faculty member at Harvard between 1982and 1988.

"Basically Michael's idea is that liberalpolitical philosophy is missing its moral center,which is a relatively new set of ideas to emergeform the `left,'" Brinkley says.

While Republican rhetoricians have long beenfamiliar with the notion of "moral values,"Sandel's mission is to bring the language of moraldiscourse to the progressives on the other side,Brinkley adds.

Return to Academic Life?

While behind the scenes Sandel is affecting thepublic discourse of the Clinton administration, atHarvard he has almost completed his secondbook--an investigation of the cost to societyAmerica incurred in indulging in its preoccupationwith liberal principles.

This is one of the few accomplishments to whichSandel will publicly admits.

This professor who lectures the most populatedclass at Harvard shies away from public attentionand refuses to comment for the record on any ofhis public or personal achievements.CrimsonJennifer J. BalkMICHAEL J. SANDEL