Competence matters

[tommyjo]

Yeah...this is by Paul Krugman...so all the freaky right wingers and blind supporters won't be able to understand the English as written...

Ignorance Is Strength. by Paul Krugman, NY Times: When I travel to Asia, I’m fairly often met at the airport by someone holding a sign reading “Mr. Paul.” Why? In much of Asia, names are given family first, personal second — at home, the prime minister of Japan is referred to as Abe Shinzo. And the mistake is completely forgivable when it’s made by a taxi driver picking up a professor.

It’s not so forgivable, however, if the president ... makes the same mistake when welcoming the leader of one of our most important economic and security partners. But there it was: Donald Trump referring to Mr. Abe as, yes, Prime Minister Shinzo.

Mr. Abe did not, as far as we know, respond by calling his host President Donald.

Trivial? Well, it would be if it were an isolated instance. But it isn’t. What we’ve seen instead over the past three weeks is an awesome display of raw ignorance on every front. Worse, there’s no hint that either the White House or its allies in Congress see this as a problem. They appear to believe that expertise, or even basic familiarity with a subject, is for wimps; ignorance is strength. ...

And that is, of course, the point. Competent lawyers might tell you that your Muslim ban is unconstitutional; competent scientists that climate change is real; competent economists that tax cuts don’t pay for themselves; competent voting experts that there weren’t millions of illegal ballots; competent diplomats that the Iran deal makes sense, and Putin is not your friend. So competence must be excluded.

 

[This_person]

Yeah...this is by Paul Krugman...so all the freaky right wingers and blind supporters won't be able to understand the English as written...

Ah, but did he bow?



To be fair, the travel restriction is not a Muslim ban, so that's not really a thing. Competent scientists also say "climate change" is not real, or at least not man-made. Competent economists (or, crystal ball fairies) will tell you tax cuts do pay for themselves. Competent voting experts may not use the word "millions" but will certainly tell you that there were illegal ballots cast. Competent diplomats overwhelmingly tell us the Iran deal made no sense. No one is claiming Putin is our friend, that is another "not really a thing" one.


If he bowed, showing his lack of understanding of America on the world stage, would that be equal incompetence?

 

[kwillia]

Seriously? You are in a tizzy over how he greets people?

 

[This_person]

Seriously? You are in a tizzy over how he greets people?

TJ has a fair point. If Trump had brought forth a button to reset our relations with Japan and it really said "overcharge", that would demonstrate incompetence. If Trump bowed to a foreign leader, demonstrating our national subservience to that leader, that would be incompetence. If he calls someone who is a world leader by the wrong name, that is incompetence.

Just putting things in perspective here.

 

[black dog]

TJ has a fair point. If Trump had brought forth a button to reset our relations with Japan and it really said "overcharge", that would demonstrate incompetence. If Trump bowed to a foreign leader, demonstrating our national subservience to that leader, that would be incompetence. If he calls someone who is a world leader by the wrong name, that is incompetence.

Just putting things in perspective here.

I'm quite sure that President Trump has met and entertained many more leaders and powerful people in his lifetime than most of our Presidents in Modern History.
He's well versed in meet and greet.

 

[This_person]

I'm quite sure that President Trump has met and entertained many more leaders and powerful people in his lifetime than most of our Presidents in Modern History.
He's well versed in meet and greet.

But, if we're going to point out both gross mistakes (bowing) and just large mistakes ("overcharge") as well as the little ones (iPod with personal speeches on it with wrong power supply as gift to royalty) in others, we should probably do the same in the leaders we support, too.

 

[PsyOps]

TJ has a fair point. If Trump had brought forth a button to reset our relations with Japan and it really said "overcharge", that would demonstrate incompetence. If Trump bowed to a foreign leader, demonstrating our national subservience to that leader, that would be incompetence. If he calls someone who is a world leader by the wrong name, that is incompetence.

Just putting things in perspective here.

The left is blind to their own faults. I doubt TJ even got your point.

 

[GURPS]

Oh Good, there are Humans in the White House, not politicians

 

[PsyOps]

Yeah...this is by Paul Krugman...so all the freaky right wingers and blind supporters won't be able to understand the English as written...

It's seems Kugman is more offended by it than PM Shinzo. Just one more straw for you leftists to grab for.

 

[This_person]

The left is blind to their own faults. I doubt TJ even got your point.

I doubt that as well. But, clearly many more get it, so that makes it all worthwhile.

 

[vraiblonde]

I'm quite sure that President Trump has met and entertained many more leaders and powerful people in his lifetime than most of our Presidents in Modern History.
He's well versed in meet and greet.

This ^^

I wish the haters would make up their hivemind. On one hand, Trump is an evil mastermind who is in cahoots with every foreign leader out there. On the other hand, he's a goober just fell off the truck who has no worldly experience whatsoever.

 

[SamSpade]

This ^^

I wish the haters would make up their hivemind. On one hand, Trump is an evil mastermind who is in cahoots with every foreign leader out there. On the other hand, he's a goober just fell off the truck who has no worldly experience whatsoever.

Just like the Truthers who both believed Dubya concocted the whole WTC attack and so forth and was smart enough to dupe the genius Democrats in the Senate - but somehow was ALSO too dumb to find his ass with both hands.

 

[glhs837]

Cognitive Dissonance - Its a real thing.

 

[Gilligan]

Paul Krugman! bwa haa haaa...I can't believe TJ quoted that demented troll.

 

[SamSpade]

Paul Krugman! bwa haa haaa...I can't believe TJ quoted that demented troll.

For one, he's decidedly one-sided when it comes to politics.
He's entitled to that. But erudition does nothing for him when his opinion is utterly predictable.

However, he's been wrong extremely often on his actual area of expertise, economics.
I guess I only read his column to see what WON'T happen.

 

[stgislander]

For one, he's decidedly one-sided when it comes to politics.
He's entitled to that. But erudition does nothing for him when his opinion is utterly predictable.

However, he's been wrong extremely often on his actual area of expertise, economics.
I guess I only read his column to see what WON'T happen.

Somewhere TJ is crafting a voodoo doll in your likeness.

 

[Midnightrider]

this would be a big meh, if it weren't for the fact that it shows trump isn't surrounding himself with good people. You know, what trumpers said he was going to do: Select the best individuals to advise him since he didn't have much experience. Yet he doesn't have an assistant who could prep him or step in and hand him a note correcting his mistake.
I think it is a sign of larger problems, but nothing in and of itself.

 

[SamSpade]

this would be a big meh, if it weren't for the fact that it shows trump isn't surrounding himself with good people. You know, what trumpers said he was going to do: Select the best individuals to advise him since he didn't have much experience. Yet he doesn't have an assistant who could prep him or step in and hand him a note correcting his mistake.
I think it is a sign of larger problems, but nothing in and of itself.

I'm willing to grant him a *little* latitude when it comes to that because it IS a new administration.
I remember the Clinton administration made a LOT of huge faux pas the first few months. Generally it was attributed to a large and very young staff.
The public - and especially the press - were quite forgiving.

Regarding the clumsiness of the travel ban though - that had the problem of a rush job, but the best overall rationale was best summed up recently by Greg Gutfeld -
He didn't want to SIGNAL the enemy what he was doing. Obama - and previous administrations - were terrible at that. It was like the police department or the FBI announcing their means of catching a criminal on TV. Too much time, and they get wind.

What the Ninth has done is taken a poor rollout and made it worse - now if anyone wants to sneak in, they can do it all they want, and they'd better do it fast, because the window of opportunity will probably be closing.

 

[Larry Gude]

Krugman is another person who pisses me off. That HE can get paid to write and I can't. So far... :

 

[Midnightrider]

I'm willing to grant him a *little* latitude when it comes to that because it IS a new administration.
I remember the Clinton administration made a LOT of huge faux pas the first few months. Generally it was attributed to a large and very young staff.
The public - and especially the press - were quite forgiving.

Regarding the clumsiness of the travel ban though - that had the problem of a rush job, but the best overall rationale was best summed up recently by Greg Gutfeld -
He didn't want to SIGNAL the enemy what he was doing. Obama - and previous administrations - were terrible at that. It was like the police department or the FBI announcing their means of catching a criminal on TV. Too much time, and they get wind.

What the Ninth has done is taken a poor rollout and made it worse - now if anyone wants to sneak in, they can do it all they want, and they'd better do it fast, because the window of opportunity will probably be closing.

you cant blame the ninth for trump's administrations mistake. They put together a ban that would likely be unconstitutional and then their appeal was grade school. I mean I read it and laughed. The Ninths denial of the appeal was equally funny. The 9th really had no other option given the law and that POS appeal