subject: Robert S. Mcnamara, Sonia Sotomayor, And Empathy [print this page] By Leslie Pratch By Leslie Pratch
On July 6, I read the obituary in the New York Times by Tim Weiner of Robert S. McNamara. Weiner cited the unsigned editorial written that appeared in the New York Times in 1995 in response to McNamaras tendering his prime time explanation/apologia "three decades late in his book, In Retrospect. An hour later The New York Times reran that heartbreaking editorial by Howell Raines, titled Mr. McNamaras War. Later that day, PBS reran old footage by Robert MacNeil in which McNamara gave some guff about not wanting to "give aid and comfort to the enemy. He attempted to stick Johnson with the burden of blamebut he was a great enabler. And he should have resigned when he realized (or so he claimed) the utter futility and mindlessness of that unnecessary war.
Iraq comes in a close second. Fortunately, we have not racked up the level of deaths that we managed to accrue in Vietnam not that this is much consolation to the families who have lost husbands or wives or children or siblings. And lest we forget, the severity of injuries to so many troops is appalling. The irony is that we can save terribly shattered bodies but we cannot put lives back together again with similar expertise.
In Errol Morris 2003 documentary, The Fog of War: Eleven Lessons from the Life of Robert S. McNamara, McNamara talked about empathizing with the enemy as a central lesson. I view empathy as fundamental to integrity, and my research comparing the personality characteristics of senior business executives who demonstrate high versus low integrity shows that integrity is a core interpersonal of motive of those executives who demonstrate consistently high integrity.
To manifest integrity in business means behaving with a clear set of values; those values balance self-interest and concern with interest in and concern for others. This balance is consistent with the values and goals of the community. Leaders who have integrity think about their actions writ broadly and how they will affect others. Empathy is requisite to appreciate the needs and values of these groups to whom a leader owes a duty. I believe these points are equally valid with respect to political leaders. I agree with McNamara that empathy is crucial. But I question whether he ever truly understood empathy. In his vanity, his overestimation of his superior skills, he did not listen to countervailing voices regarding U.S. policy in Vietnam and he never owned up to his.
A New York Times editorial stated:
"And yes, the Senate should satisfy itself that Judge Sotomayor has empathy, which Republicans are trying to turn into a dirty word. Judges need to understand that the cases before them are not an abstract clash of legal principles but are real-world disputes that have important consequences for the lives of ordinary Americans."
Part of the issue is semantics. Empathy has many of the same letters as sympathy but some seem take them to be mostly the same thing. Sympathy means aligning your emotional stance with the wishes, beliefs, and desires with the person with whom you are sympathizing. Empathy means a clearer and fuller view of the person with whom you are empathizing. In this muddy discussion over the confirmation of Sonia Sotomayor, sympathy is confused with empathy and implies a prejudice in favor of those with whom a judge is empathizing. Rather, I think it implies a clearer view of the issues at stake in rendering decisions that affect the lives of millions.
