This doesn't seem to be the curse of smart people. Many bureaucrats don't care if a project succeeds, instead focusing on whether or not it is approved and who's name is attached. That isn't because they are smart. It's because their environment rewards this behavior.
People can rationalize anything. It has nothing to do with intelligence, merely experience and current environment (which is most of what's written in the article).
Most bureaucrats are smart. Most politicians are smart. When you lament why the people in charge seem so dumb, its probably worth reflecting that they're still in charge. They understand something you don't.
It seems highly likely to me that power brokering (i.e. social intelligence) and analytical intelligence are orthogonal skills (and not the only orthogonal axes on which one may be "smart").
"Smart" is inadequate as an adjective, because it leads people to say things like, "If you're so smart, why aren't you the boss/senator/president?" If we separate these forms of intelligence in our daily conversations, we might make it easier for the oft-exploited analytically intelligent to appreciate and take advantage of social intelligence, and gain more recognition from those who have social but not analytical intelligence.
> "If you're so smart, why aren't you the boss/senator/president?"
I think it mainly has to do with comfort. Most people don't want to step outside of their comfort zone to pursue political power. There's too much risk and not enough to gain from the time commitment.
Speaking as someone who helped with someone's unsuccessful political campaign, it takes a lot more than just discomfort to be successful in politics. I think the "just don't feel like it, but if I did, I could win" excuse for avoiding politics is like the "I could probably get in, but I don't want to be a member" excuse for avoiding Mensa. Both things are probably harder than they seem (though I only have experience with one).
They know how to lie, play people against each other, abuse human emotions and so on. It is quite simple to understand this without being in power for various reasons, e.g. different moral standards.
And no, most of them are not smart. Just smart enough. Not the same thing.
Having worked in politics, I tend to disagree with you. Still, I'm not lamenting why the people in charge are dumb, I'm saying you don't have to be smart to rationalize things logically.
People can rationalize anything. It has nothing to do with intelligence, merely experience and current environment (which is most of what's written in the article).