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Project Syndicate:
The Age of Incompetence
J. Bradford DeLong
U.C. Berkeley
, WCEG, and
NBER
http://bradford-delong.com
brad.delong@gmail.com
@delong
2017-12-22
pages:
https://www.icloud.com/pages/
02NRm7bSmJnnHIKY8j1iaYTYg#2017-01-26_Project_Syndicate_co
py
787 words
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2017 will see a U.S. president taking offi ce having received
nearly three million fewer votes than his opponent, and a
senate majority leader whose 52 majority received 13
million fewer votes than their 48 opponent.
Only Paul Ryan's House majority has any claim to
represent a numerical majority of even American citizen
voters. That president sis tarting his honeymoon with an
unprecedented--or is that unpresidented?--sub-50
%
approval rating. We thus have a situation unique in
post-1860 American history: the government of the world's
largest democracy is not democratic. And we have a
situation unique--although it has been building for quite a
while--in that none of the opposition and very few
members of his own Washington DC political allies and
staff have any confi dence that the president--or precedent--
elect is qualifi ed to do the non-cheerleading portions of his
job.
What do I mean by "building for quite a while"?
With the honorable and notably rare exception of George
H.W. Bush, 1957 was the last time that a Republican
president qualifi ed by knowledge, intelligent, temperament,
and values to be president swore the oath of offi ce on
inauguration day. Nobody denies that Richard Nixon was
qualifi ed by knowledge and intelligence to exercise the
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offi ce of president of the United States. But everybody
admits he was unqualifi ed by temperament and values.
Very few believe that Ronald Reagan was qualifi ed as far as
knowledge and intelligence were concerned--"Poor dear",
said British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, "he means
well, but not too much between the ears", and what
qualifi cations he had at inauguration were eroded by the
wounds inflicted by assassin John Hinckley and the shadow
of Alzheimer's. But Ronald Reagan had the temperament
and--largely--the values necessary and proper, and
understood very well that although he was the star he was
not the boss: there were, just as in Hollywood, very smart
and hard-working trained professionals writing his lines,
blocking his moves, and doing the camera work and the
post-production, and he knew he should focus on doing his
job as star and not interfere with theirs.
George W. Bush was supposed to be in the same mold: a
folksy cheerleader who would be guided by the very smart
executives he had inherited from his father's political
affi nity. But George W. Bush thought that he was not just
the star but the decider. And while Cheney and Rumsfeld
had been smart executives in the 1970s by the 2000s they
were, to put it bluntly, erratic if not mad. Those were the
two he bonded with.
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And now George W. Bush does not appear at Republican
National Conventions and would be a happier man had he
never sent James Baker to Florida at the end of 2000 to
grab its electoral votes.
Does Donald Trump understand that he is the star but does
not have the knowledge and intelligence to be the boss?
No. Does he understand that he was not won but merely
leveled up to a place in which he has the chance to fail
catastrophically and permanently? No. Does he understand
that he right now is the person who has the greatest interest
in making sure that his policies are technocratically
excellent, and will in fact produce a richer and stronger
America and a more peaceful world in four years? Probably
not.
So what is to be done? First, neutralize as many of Trump's
policy initiatives that do not pass the technocratic test as
possible.
Neutralize them at the state level when possible. Democrats
and honorable Republicans at the state level need to keep
the tax revenue flowing and the spending programs
operated where those are in America's interest whatever is
happening in Trump's Washington--and Democrats and
honorable Republicans need now to promise states that
come 2021 they will be held harmless by the federal
government for their actions.
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At the national level, at every opportunity remind the
senate majority that its voice is weaker than the minority's
by 13 million votes. At every opportunity remind Paul
Ryan that he went along to his great discredit with the
initiatives of the George W. Bush administration, and that
that display of party unity behind a White House that was
not up the job did not serve the country well from
2001-2008.
And remind everyone that standing up to the
counterproductive initiatives of an unpopular president who
got nearly three million fewer votes than his opponent is
not only honorable, but makes for very good reality TV.
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