Isn't this sad (emphasis mine):

The council consists of, and takes testimony from, the sort of people who have spent enough time probing deep questions to cultivate expertise and esteem. These people used to be called monks. Today we call them nerds.

He continues on:

I like nerds. I often play chess with a member of the bioethics council, and if playing chess with a nerd doesn't make you a nerd, I don't know what does. Nerds care about facts and doing the right thing. They ask probing questions and challenge assumptions. The nerds in this room can translate between the red-state language of religion and the blue-state language of policy. Washington needs more of them. If it weren't for nerds, nobody here—as opposed to at the Vatican—would be seriously debating bioethics.

But nerds have trouble communicating the essence of the council's mandate: humanity

I like journalists. I even read some of their writing. They care about a story, and getting the right message. If it weren't for journalists, no one would know anything about what was going on in the world.

But journalists have trouble lifting above cliched storylines and the easy jab, and conveying the truth of complex matters.