`Myth of Competence’ is dead -Leonard Pitts Jr.

I love Leonard Pitts.  He always says what I think much better than I can.  I’ll have my own say on this latter this week.  I only have so much time to blog…Here is an excerpt from his column that I read this morning.  I encourage you to click the link to read the full column:

Weeks later, one other consequence becomes jarringly apparent: the Myth of Competence has died.

Meaning the belief that people who engage in high-risk activities — in this case, the ones who drill for oil 5,000 feet under the sea — know what they’re doing, that they have every contingency covered, that even their backup plans have backup plans.

Surely this is what Sarah Palin was thinking when she chirped, “Drill, baby, drill!” Surely this is what President Obama relied upon when he recently proposed to open new waters to oil exploration.

Anticipating protests from environmentalists, he even promised, that “we’ll employ new technologies that reduce the impact of oil exploration. We’ll protect areas that are vital to tourism, the environment, and our national security.”

Three weeks later, the oil rig exploded. So far, that protection he promised has been nonexistent. That faith in new technologies he mentioned has proven misplaced. And “Drill, baby, drill!” has come to seem tinnier and more childish than ever — energy policy as schoolyard chant.

We have been disabused of the Myth of Competence, shorn of the belief that the people in charge are capable of handling any eventuality.

`Myth of Competence’ is dead – Leonard Pitts Jr. – MiamiHerald.com.

Read more: http://www.miamiherald.com/2010/06/02/1658969/myth-of-confidence-is-dead.html#ixzz0pkYTe0fe