Michael Astrue is a rare breed: a bureaucrat-poet. By day he heads the Social Security Administration, reporting directly to the president, overseeing 65,000 employees and trying to improve a system many say won’t be able to fund the retirements of future generations without extensive congressional reform. By night he pens words in rhyme and meter, publishing the award-winning “The Secret Language of Women” as well as translations of Horace and Petrarch. He spoke to The Washington Examiner about his two worlds, and how his faith moves him in both of them. Do you consider yourself to be of a specific faith?
I’m Roman Catholic. And I guess one of the things about being Roman Catholic is just the sense of tradition. I think generally any institution is going to have its shortcomings, but this sense that it really originated from Jesus and the Apostles and it continued for 2,000 years — that’s a very striking thing to be associated with.
