STEVEN
CONN
Voices
HUFFINGTON
10.28.12
CEOs vs.
Presidents
B
USINESS MAGNATE MARK CUBAN recently gave us
a “teachable moment” when he expressed his enthusiasm for Mitt Romney ¶ In essence, Cuban believes
that Mr. Romney will prove to be an effective president
because he’s been a very successful businessman; Cuban feels confident that Romney will bring to the White
House the same skills as a negotiator and dealmaker
that he honed at Bain in Boston. ¶ The problem here
isn’t merely the magical thinking that Cuban engages in
when he believes that Romney will bring bipartisan comity to the Capital. Rather, Cuban has confused the job
of being president with the job of being a private equity
fund manager. The president does not function as the
CEO of the nation, and Cuban—and many others—perpetuates a dangerous misperception when he suggests
that he does. ¶ For starters, the nation is not a business, despite the rhetoric we hear from Mr. Romney, nor
ILLUSTRATION BY DONGYUN LEE
Steven Conn
is a professor
at Ohio State
University,
editor of
Origins:
Current
Events in
Historical
Perspective,
and the
new book
To Promote
the General
Welfare: The
Case for Big
Government