Stupidity as a Strategy

If you recall the Iran-Contra affair, President Reagan was involved in the sale of arms to Iran, which was under embargo. It grew into a huge scandal, with Oliver North taking the brunt of the blame. When the Reagan was asked by the Tower Commission whether he had approved the sale, he at first admitted it, and then later said he couldn't remember having done so. If Bill Clinton had ever said that he "forgot" selling arms to our enemies, the entire country would have called bullshit on him. But with Reagan, you kind of felt that he was a kindly old gentleman, but didn't quite have it all upstairs. I could not only see him forgetting whether he sold arms to enemies, I could see him forgetting to put on his pants before a press conference.

Some of you may still recall the brilliant sketch in which Phil Hartman portrayed Ronald Reagan as a bumbling fool when the cameras were on but a sharp incisive leader when no one was around. If you're interested, here it is. Definitely worth a look, especially with Dana Carvey as Jimmy Stewart at the end.

I was reminded of this sketch after reading a comment by Norm on my post about why the UFT is "suddenly" playing dead. He said, "The UFT people are not in over their head. They know exactly what they are doing....They are colluding and collaborating...They are Vichy." At first I thought the comment a little over the top, and then I thought of this sketch about Reagan.

My point is that a lot of times during his presidency, Reagan was excusing for his bumbling mistakes because of his age. George Bush II likewise got away with murder because most people thought he was an affable idiot. Sure, he brought our country to war using trumped up intelligence, but that was the kind of foible you expected from the less-than-brilliant Bush. I can't even tell you how many times during the Reagan and Bush years I found myself saying "How can anyone so stupid be the President?" But after a while you learn to accept them and hope that you'll get something better down the road.

Now we come the the UFT and Norm's comment. How many times have you said to yourself "How can Randi Weingarten be so stupid as to agree to that?" I won't detail all of Randi's idiotic agreements as they have all been documented here and elsewhere many times. But now it's time to examine Mulgrew. How often have you asked yourself how Mulgrew could be so stupid? I'll list some of my least favorites:

How could Mulgrew have been so stupid as to:

• Fail to endorse Thompson for mayor when the UFT's nod might have changed the outcome of the election?
• Come to a rubber room agreement, outside of contract negotiations, that let the mayor off the hook for the situation he himself created?
• Agree to a teacher evaluation scheme that ties test scores to teacher ratings?
• Do all of the above without even getting the measly 4% pattern that the other unions have already gotten?

Can Mulgrew and Randi really be this stupid and gone as far as they have? I think it's a fair question. When Mulgrew got 91% of the vote in the recent election, did he view that as a mandate to take on the mayor, as he should have, or did he just realize that 91% of the union membership are just sheep who will keep putting him into office no matter what stupid thing he does next?

I think the Unity bigs and Bloomberg have the same goal: to stay in power. The mayor did that by buying a third term, and Mulgrew did it by giving the appearance of toughness. In the end, it doesn't matter to the UFT whether they get their $1000 a year from a senior teacher or a rookie. In many ways, the rookie is preferable; they are less likely to file those pesky grievances that cause work for the district reps and they are far less likely to question what the union does.

So you make the call. Reagan, Bush, and Mulgrew: Incompetent, stupid, or sheer geniuses in idiot's clothing?