Thomas Hussein Campbell?

Culture Grrl's Lee Rosenbaum has a post on her impressions of new Met director Thomas Campbell, garnered from the press conference announcing his appointment. Lee's piece is set up with a heavily loaded headline and selective photo and condescending caption, all of which is fair game for a blog, which, attention spans being what they are, permits a limited amount of space in which to convey an opinion before reader's flee, but then fails to deliver a convincing condemnation of its subject in my opinion.

Campbell's Soup: Met's Director-Elect Serves Thin Broth at Press Conference

Let's get this over with quickly, if not painlessly:

If you're going to hold a press conference, you've got to be willing to say something substantive to the assembled writers.

Based on that set-up, I expected Campbell's answers to the writer's questions to reveal a lack of confidence or unpreparedness, which is indeed how Rosenbaum tries to sell them, but I think she might have missed the more probable reason Campbell's responses were short on details about his personal vision for the museum...he was sitting right next to the outgoing legend, and anything that he stated that might be interpreted as a criticism would be pounced upon by the press and thrown up as disrespect...how dare this relative unknown suggest he knows better than Philippe? Indeed, I sense a hint of unrequited lust for just such an opportunity throughout Lee's post.

I will grant that reporters need a story...that's what they're paid to get, that's what news outlets sell, that's why writers bother to show up at press conferences...and so I'm not disagreeing with Lee's premise, just her interpretation of what she heard.

Here's the first question Lee asked that we're asked to understand revealed a lack of substance:

Rosenbaum: Philippe [in his opening remarks] just spoke about the importance of "renewal" and James Houghton spoke about the importance of your "vision for the future." Can you tell us what your ideas are for renewal and for the future?

Campbell: This a great institution doing many things right and I don't believe in change for the sake of change. But of course I have been here for some time, I understand how things work here, and I do have ideas. But I think the next three and a half months are going to be a period for me of intense listening. This is the time for me to measure my ideas against all the realities on the ground and it would be premature to speak too directly about new developments. I think that's the kind of question to ask me in January of next year.

The key phrase here that reveals just how politically savvy Campbell seems to be (the story Lee missed, IMO) is "a period for me of intense listening." Presidential candidates of late have used this well (Hillary Clinton seemed to have raised it to an art form in her first Senate race). It has the combined benefits of not making you look presumptuous or overly anxious, suggesting you understand that others' opinions are valuable, and letting you roll out your vision on your time table, rather according to the press' story deadlines. "This is the time for me to measure my ideas against all the realities on the ground and it would be premature to speak too directly about new developments," also echoes the way candidates discuss pulling out from Iraq, Obama in particular qualifies each answer to how he'll redeploy the troops with the caveat that the reality on the ground will dictate his decisions. And he's confident enough about his plans that he's offering the press a timetable on which to judge him.

Personally, I'm both impressed and a bit intimidated that Campbell seems so calculating and confident.

His answer to Lee's next question reminded me of the Illinois Senator as well.

Rosenbaum: To what extent can you explain to us your background in administration, managerial [matters] and fundraising? Can you give us a level of confidence that you have that side of the job covered?

Campbell: I've never been a director. Look, I think that the museum that Philippe will be leaving is a supremely well run, well established institution. We're fiscally sound. We're incredibly dynamic in terms of our programs. We have 17 curatorial departments, five conservation departments, and almost as many various administrative departments, and by and large they're all extremely well managed.

The direct, no bullsh*t acknowledgment of his experience (or lack thereof), his command of the facts, his respect for the intelligence of the person he's talking to, even his use of the work "Look" (echoing the confidence of a law professor getting to the meat of an issue), all of these things made me hear this answer in my mind in Obama's voice even before I connected the dots about what it meant. I doubt that Campbell sounds like Barack in real life, but in print there's definitely a similarity.

So Campbell didn't spoon feed the press conference attendees any sensation or scandal. That hardly means there's no story there.

UPDATE: Lee responds and cites some other reports to back her opinion that "substance was lacking throughout the press conference."