#370 - "A Willful Ignorance"

Op-Ed by Paul Krugman in the New York Times:

According to The New York Times, President Bush was genuinely surprised to learn from moderate Islamic leaders that they had become deeply distrustful of American intentions. The report on the "perception gap" suggests that the leader of the war on terror has no idea how badly that war — which must, ultimately, be a war for hearts and minds — is going.

Mr. Bush's ignorance may reflect his lack of curiosity: "The best way to get the news," he says, "is from objective sources. And the most objective sources I have are people on my staff." Two words: emperor, clothes.

But there's something broader going on: a sort of willful ignorance, supposedly driven by moral concerns but actually reflecting domestic politics. Surely it's important to understand how others see us, but a new, post 9/11 version of political correctness has made it difficult even to discuss their points of view. Any American who tries to go beyond "America good, terrorists evil," who tries to understand — not condone — the growing world backlash against the United States, faces furious attacks delivered in a tone of high moral indignation.

Both the tone of high moral indignation and the emporer's lack of clothes were in ample evidence at Bush's press conference yesterday (see it here). Seeing the President live is painful - the guy is dumb - and it frightens us to see that the man in charge of the war on terror has no clue about what's really going on around him.

In his own words: "I'll say that the world is more peaceful and more free under my leadership, and America is more secure...." [minute 40:48]

Okay then. If anyone out there thinks America is experiencing greater peace, freedom or security under Bush's leadership, then you would fit right in as one of the "objective sources" on the President's staff.