Who are you who are so wise in the ways of science?
In his latest disquisition on Ebola, Obama plumbed new depths of incoherence. Which for him is saying something. He responded specifically to questions about how to rationalize the military’s policy of quarantining returning servicemen and women from West Africa (though they don’t say the q-word), while adamantly opposing quarantining of civilians. He offered two justifications (I won’t call them “reasons”). The first was that civilians and military personnel have different levels of exposure due to the nature of their work in West Africa:
Well, the military is in a different situation, obviously, because they are, first of all, not treating patients.
So let me get this straight. People with more exposure to infected patients require fewer precautions upon their return. Rrrriiiiiggghhhttt.
The second reason is that the military works for him, so they just have to suck it:
Second of all, they are not there voluntarily.
It’s part of their mission that’s been assigned to them by their commanders and ultimately by me, the commander in chief. So, we don’t expect to have similar rules for our military as we do for civilians. They are already, by definition, if they’re in the military, under more circumscribed conditions.
When we have volunteers who are taking time out from their families, from their loved ones and so forth to go over there because they have very particular expertise to tackle a very difficult job, we to want make sure that, when they come back, that we are prudent, that we are making sure that they are not at risk themselves or at risk of spreading the disease.
Last time I checked, military people were volunteers (and have been since 19-freaking-73), taking time out from their families and loved ones and so forth on extended deployments because they have very particular expertise to tackle difficult jobs. Oh, and in doing so, especially for the last 13 years, have done so in most of the earth’s hell holes at great personal risk.
But I guess they’re not doing God’s work, so they just need to embrace the suck.
If you ever wanted to understand Obama’s true feelings about the military in two paragraphs, now you have it. They start at scorn and go downhill from there.
Don’t think this won’t be noticed, all the way from E-1 to O-10. And there might be some O-11s spinning in their graves.
And of course, there was the obligatory condescending invocation of Science!, this from a guy who despite his resemblance to Urkel never struck me as a guy handy around the Bunsen Burner:
But we don’t want to do things that aren’t based on science and best practices, because, if we do, then we’re just putting another barrier on somebody who’s already doing really important work on our behalf. And that’s not something I think any of us should want to see happen.
And for a bonus Science! lecture, Jocylyn Elders emerged from obscurity to deliver it. (If you guessed “dead” in “dead or alive”, sorry: you lose).
These constant sneering references to Science!, clearly intended to intimidate the peasants into silence, are beyond insufferable. Because whenever Obama speaks about Science!, all I can think of is this:
It’s not the attitude of the administration that bothers me the most about the administration recently, it’s the blatant incompetence (see also calling Netanyahu a “chickensh*t”).
Comment by Blackshoe — October 29, 2014 @ 6:56 pm
@Blackshoe-see my next post. I hit both points!
I was focused on the competence issue too, but when I reread Obama’s remarks the remarks dripping scorn on the military jumped out at me. They really p*ssed me off.
“Well, the military is in a different situation, obviously, because they are, first of all, not treating patients. Second of all, they are not there voluntarily.”
Jesus wept.
I don’t know what’s worse: that he is stupid enough to spout this nonsense publicly, that he believes this nonsense, or that he thinks other people are stupid enough to buy it.
As a national of a longstanding US ally, I’m beginning to fear for you guys. What the hell is going on over there??
Comment by Ex-Regulator on Lunch Break — October 30, 2014 @ 1:57 am
The way CNN has been spinning Science! and offering alternative views (not), you’d almost think they were Obama’s PR network rather than what it says on the logo. At that rate, RT and CNN will soon be indistinguishable, except for the name of the omniscient being they worship.
Comment by Ivan — October 30, 2014 @ 2:23 am
Professor, you speak of science. Why should I stop traveling because of a potential pandemic. Virtualy all the people who died were black, whites seem to have a excellent recovery rate, so as they say, nothing to worry about. PERHAPS this is a black mans disease. Even if Nerola or 10 million black Americans should die from it, our civil rights are more important.
Nerola, in case someone is not sure, is a combination of Nero and Ebola.
Comment by traveler — October 30, 2014 @ 3:36 pm