"Being Human Is Overrated" -- An Autobigraphy Of A Phrase

Of all the words that Mark Penn was said to have uttered or written during Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign, the one that is said to best encapsulate his personality and strategy is "being human is overrated," a reference to a strategy debate about whether Hillary Clinton ought to emphasize her humanity over her command of the issues.

Here's one way the words were portrayed:

A source in the campaign, speaking on background, said that Mr. Penn's philosophy was perfectly represented by a comment he made during one of Mrs. Clinton's debate preps at campaign headquarters in early winter. About 15 staffers were in a room with Mrs. Clinton discussing how she could best respond to a particular line of attack. One of the aides, the source recalled, had an idea.

"I think you need to show a little bit of humanity," said the aide.

Mr. Penn interjected. "Oh, come on, being human is overrated.

Well, here's the origin of the quote. It was in a memo Penn wrote in late 2006.  He was referring not to Clinton but to Bill Gates by way of analogy, and he follows up his comment by saying that "connecting with people and understanding their passion is a critical part of leadership.

Read it here: