It's now widely recognized that coverage of the 2016 campaign was skewed because too many national reporters and analysts had little understanding of local communities in wide swaths of America. Various outlets are remedying that, but there's a related and equally important problem that's going largely unaddressed. So many of those leading the discussion of the state of American governance at the national level have little to no experience in governing, especially at the state and local level.
There's no doubt that academics, journalists, and pundits have a great deal to offer the national political conversation. But if they have not been shaped by the actual experience of holding governing authority, their perspectives will be incomplete.
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