Reasoning about failure

One of my all time favorite books is Reasoning About Knowledge. No, it's not "easy reading" by any stretch of the imagination, but this post is not about the math.

On the first page of the third chapter, there is an Arabian proverb which I saw for the first time in this book:

There are four sorts of men:
He who knows not and knows not he knows not: he is a fool—shun him;
He who knows not and knows he knows not: he is simple—teach him;
He who knows and knows not he knows: he is asleep—wake him;
He who knows and knows he knows: he is wise—follow him.

Arabian proverb

President Obama decided to run before there ever was a financial crisis. His mind was already set that a bigger government that increasingly inserted itself in the middle of private decisions was necessary to restore fairness and spread wealth around. The crisis was just his excuse:

This is supposed to be a new era of bipartisanship, but this bill was written based on the wish list of every living — or dead — Democratic interest group. As Speaker Nancy Pelosi put it, "We won the election. We wrote the bill." So they did.

The president's basic argument during the campaign was that things were going badly because the Republicans, especially President Bush, were idiots. When Mr. Genius himself and his smart people took charge, everything would come up roses again. World peace and prosperity for all would flow from the detailed plans of the chosen people.

Well, reality had different ideas.

The President's current excuse for the current state of the economy is: I think we understood that it was bad, but we didn't know how bad it was.

So, Mr. Obama did not know how bad it was and he also did not know he did not know how bad it was.

Quite simply, he was a fool.

Now, most politicians are fools, so this is hardly a strong condemnation of him.

Yet, he claimed, very strongly, that he knew how to deal with the crisis and lead the country to better days.

He applied for the job with the job description staring him right in the face.

His foolish ways have left the U.S. economy in limbo, made the world less safe and stable, and created social instability.

In February 2008, there were 113.6 million people working in the U.S. In February 2012, that number was 108.9 million. Meanwhile, the government has accumulated many trillions of dollars more in debt and has grown without checks.

Hardly a ringing endorsement for you to vote for him again. That's why he and his supporters will talk about anything other than these real issues we're facing.