On Sunday night, President-elect Barack Obama told “60 Minutes” that Franklin D. Roosevelt would be a model of sorts for him. “What you see in FDR that I hope my team can emulate is not always getting it right, but projecting a sense of confidence and a willingness to try things and experiment in order to get people working again.”

This is a problematic standard. What do you want in a surgeon? One who “gets it right” or one who projects “a sense of confidence?”