More Stealth Nominees

So it appears that we have yet another nominee to an important position with little experience and less idea how he will behave. From what I can gather Ben Bernanke is a decent choice for Fed Chairman. According to the New York Times, he is "an economist with stellar credentials and a good reputation in Congress and on Wall Street who has won widespread plaudits since being named on Monday." And given the experienced candidates that Bush might have picked were probably loonies, I suppose that this is the best we can do. But what is wrong with our politics in that people have to be utter cyphers to have a chance of reaching high office? We're doing this not just with appointive positions, but with our candidates as well. Perhaps we should consider the Athenian system and just pick people by lot - it would at least solve the dynasty problem, and would probably be just as likely to produce decent public officials.