# Great diplomat Obama strikes again. "Ignorance and incompetence" **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [May 30, 2012, 1:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-diplomat-obama-strikes-again-ignorance-and-incompetence/623541 "2012-05-30T13:43:05Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Sicks\_Ate](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/258eb7/32.png) [@Sicks\_Ate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sicks_Ate)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2012, 2:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-diplomat-obama-strikes-again-ignorance-and-incompetence/623541/21 "2012-05-30T14:36:24Z")
> [@Martin\_Hyde](#): > > It’s not the biggest deal in the world but I have noticed that from a protocol perspective this has been a **very** incompetent White House. Now, the standard SDMB response will be to crow about various things Bush did with international relations. That’s irrelevant to the point and also has nothing to do with protocol. The Bush White House mostly got protocol matters right, they tended to piss off allies because of substantive disagreements (which is definitely a worse problem.) But the Obama White House has repeatedly offended European allies over amateurish protocol issues that makes me wonder if he has bad staff handling this part of things. Due to the numerous protocol issues, I have come to the conclusion that the staff that handles such matters is made up of 23 y/o fresh college Poli Sci grads. I have no evidence of this. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2012, 2:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-diplomat-obama-strikes-again-ignorance-and-incompetence/623541/22 "2012-05-30T14:50:40Z")
**Terr** , if you want to start a debate thread, do it in the correct forum: depending on the topic and your intended point, that’d be Elections or Great Debates or the BBQ Pit, _not_ MPSIMS. Next time I will close the thread and I may start handing out warnings for ignoring staff instructions. This time I will move the thread to the BBQ Pit. ---
**Author:** ![picker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/picker/32/13969_2.png) [@picker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/picker)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2012, 2:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-diplomat-obama-strikes-again-ignorance-and-incompetence/623541/23 "2012-05-30T14:55:05Z")
Since we’re in the Pit now, go fuck yourself **Terr** It’s not all about you and your Faux Outrage. We get it. You. Just. Don’t. Like. Black. People. ---
**Author:** ![Happy\_Lendervedder](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/happy_lendervedder/32/8488_2.png) [@Happy\_Lendervedder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Happy_Lendervedder)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2012, 3:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-diplomat-obama-strikes-again-ignorance-and-incompetence/623541/24 "2012-05-30T15:00:40Z")
> [@Sicks\_Ate](#): > > Due to the numerous protocol issues, I have come to the conclusion that the staff that handles such matters is made up of 23 y/o fresh college Poli Sci grads. I have no evidence of this. Just for the sake of all clarity, could you post links to the numerous protocol issues? I really am curious. > [@Martin Hyde](#): > > It’s not the biggest deal in the world but I have noticed that from a protocol perspective this has been a very incompetent White House. Now, the standard SDMB response will be to crow about various things Bush did with international relations. That’s irrelevant to the point and also has nothing to do with protocol. I see what you did there, inoculated against any mentions of Bush. Now any time someone brings him up here, you can just nod and say “Told you so.” New Internet law: “As an online discussion of a president grows longer, the probability of a conservative claiming the irrelevancy of references to George W Bush or the Bush 43 presidency approaches 1 .” ---
**Author:** ![Shodan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shodan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shodan)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2012, 3:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-diplomat-obama-strikes-again-ignorance-and-incompetence/623541/25 "2012-05-30T15:03:26Z")
> [@Happy\_Lendervedder](#): > > New Internet law: “As an online discussion of a president grows longer, the probability of a conservative claiming the irrelevancy of references to George W Bush or the Bush 43 presidency approaches 1 .” What _would_ be the relevancy? Apart from a tu quoque. Regards, Shodan ---
**Author:** ![BigAppleBucky](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigapplebucky/32/178_2.png) [@BigAppleBucky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigAppleBucky)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2012, 3:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-diplomat-obama-strikes-again-ignorance-and-incompetence/623541/26 "2012-05-30T15:05:57Z")
> [@phouka](#): > > What, incompetence? > > He referred to a Polish deathcamp during the Holocaust. The camp was in the borders of Poland. The worst of the Holocaust took place in Poland. Three million Jews were annihilated. It would have been better to say “Nazi deathcamps in Poland”, but whoever wrote the piece was thinking more about geography than responsibility. Probably thinking brevity as well. In recent years we’ve all been told to tighten up our usage. ---
**Author:** ![Euphonious\_Polemic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/euphonious_polemic/32/3002_2.png) [@Euphonious\_Polemic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Euphonious_Polemic)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2012, 3:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-diplomat-obama-strikes-again-ignorance-and-incompetence/623541/27 "2012-05-30T15:06:07Z")
Obama has now clearly lost the votes of assholes like **Terr** , who hate Obama’s guts and would never have voted for him in a million years anyway. He’s worried. ---
**Author:** ![Sicks\_Ate](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/258eb7/32.png) [@Sicks\_Ate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sicks_Ate)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2012, 3:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-diplomat-obama-strikes-again-ignorance-and-incompetence/623541/28 "2012-05-30T15:10:32Z")
> [@Happy\_Lendervedder](#): > > Just for the sake of all clarity, could you post links to the numerous protocol issues? I really am curious. Well, [this](http://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2011/09/baracks_presidential_protocol_bloopers.html) sums up a few…the tone is pretty harsh. My absolute favorite…and I will always remember where I was when I heard about it (the McDonald’s drive through in Lexington, MO)…was when Obama gave Gordon browna set of [DVDs](http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1159627/To-special-friend-Gordon-25-DVDs-Obama-gives-Brown-set-classic-movies-Lets-hope-likes-Wizard-Oz.html) of classic American films. You know, the kind of thing you’d order after seeing a commercial for it on late-night TV. IIRC, they also were not appropriately formatted for use in GB. This was in exchange for a gift from Brown of a pen, carved from the timbers of an anti-slave ship…which is a pretty sweet gift. Oh yeah, and for the PMs boys, they sent someone down to the White House gift shop to get them a couple models of Marine One. ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2012, 3:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-diplomat-obama-strikes-again-ignorance-and-incompetence/623541/29 "2012-05-30T15:15:10Z")
> [@hajario](#): > > Those words were entirely accurate. My family was killed and everything of theirs stolen by Polish people. They probably never even saw a German. > > Germany has atoned many times over for their sins. Poland still won’t admit their guilt. That shithole is still the most anti-Semitic place in all of Europe. Fuck them and their outrage. This. I lost many members of my extended family in the Holocaust . . . all in Poland. And I too wonder whether they ever saw a German. Obviously the Germans started the whole nightmare, but quite a few Poles were very happy to go along with it. That being said, Obama’s statement had nothing to do with Polish complicity. It simply meant that the camps were on Polish soil. No apology is necessary. ---
**Author:** ![Terr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/839c29/32.png) [@Terr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terr)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2012, 3:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-diplomat-obama-strikes-again-ignorance-and-incompetence/623541/30 "2012-05-30T15:20:33Z")
> [@Happy\_Lendervedder](#): > > Well there goes the Pole vote. Oh there are quite a few Poles living (and voting) in the US. I am sure this will peel off a quite a few of their votes. The more the merrier. ---
**Author:** ![Bricker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@Bricker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bricker)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2012, 3:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-diplomat-obama-strikes-again-ignorance-and-incompetence/623541/31 "2012-05-30T15:22:33Z")
The phrase may have been insensitive in not acknowledging the Nazi occupation, but it was accurate: there were, in fact, concentration camps in Poland. But President Obama’s correct response is to acknowledge the correction and apologize, which he has done. I don’t t get the sense that this arose from meanness of spirit or unforgiveable ignorance… it was simply an error, and not an obvious one. > [@Cosmic Relief](#): > > People make errors, adults apologize for their errors, and as errors go this was pretty minor. If this had been GWB, he’d have tried to play it off by saying it was just a Polack joke. If it were Mitt Romney he’d just try to fire Poland and find a more efficient ally. If this had been Sarah Palin she’d already have released a rambling incoherent justification about how Poland should be more appreciative that we liberated them in World War 1. Comedy gold. :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![Bricker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@Bricker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bricker)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2012, 3:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-diplomat-obama-strikes-again-ignorance-and-incompetence/623541/32 "2012-05-30T15:24:47Z")
> [@panache45](#): > > That being said, Obama’s statement had nothing to do with Polish complicity. It simply meant that the camps were on Polish soil. No apology is necessary. I agree with the first two sentences, but I think it’s fair to say something along the lines of, “Sorry – obviously we meant German-occupied Poland.” ---
**Author:** ![dngnb8](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/977dab/32.png) [@dngnb8](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dngnb8)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2012, 3:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-diplomat-obama-strikes-again-ignorance-and-incompetence/623541/33 "2012-05-30T15:25:18Z")
Much ado about nothing. ---
**Author:** ![Happy\_Lendervedder](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/happy_lendervedder/32/8488_2.png) [@Happy\_Lendervedder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Happy_Lendervedder)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2012, 3:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-diplomat-obama-strikes-again-ignorance-and-incompetence/623541/34 "2012-05-30T15:26:58Z")
> [@Terr](#): > > Oh there are quite a few Poles living (and voting) in the US. I am sure this will peel off a quite a few of their votes. The more the merrier. Like the ones whose families were killed in Poland during the Nazi occupation? Or me? Or my family? Or…yeah, this ain’t gonna flip any votes. It’s just enough of a dust-up to arouse the hard-core anti-Obama crowd into wagging their engorged genitalia over another perceived example of a failed presidency. ---
**Author:** ![Jas09](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/d07c76/32.png) [@Jas09](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jas09)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2012, 3:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-diplomat-obama-strikes-again-ignorance-and-incompetence/623541/35 "2012-05-30T15:28:17Z")
Yeah, it was a cock-up by whoever put the words on the teleprompter (and therefore a minor cock-up by Obama for not emphasizing the importance of exactness in these things). He will issue a formal apology and move on. That or this was just the break the Mika Brzezinski campaign was waiting for. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2012, 3:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-diplomat-obama-strikes-again-ignorance-and-incompetence/623541/36 "2012-05-30T15:29:30Z")
> [@Terr](#): > > Oh there are quite a few Poles living (and voting) in the US. I am sure this will peel off a quite a few of their votes. The more the merrier. Jokes aside, they’re not _really_ as dumb as, well… you. ---
**Author:** ![Terr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/839c29/32.png) [@Terr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terr)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2012, 3:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-diplomat-obama-strikes-again-ignorance-and-incompetence/623541/37 "2012-05-30T15:29:31Z")
> [@Bricker](#): > > But President Obama’s correct response is to acknowledge the correction and apologize, which he has done. And yet the aggrieved party does not accept that “we regret this misstatement” was an apology. [http://thehill.com/blogs/global-affairs/europe/229995-warsaw-slams-white-house-](http://thehill.com/blogs/global-affairs/europe/229995-warsaw-slams-white-house-) apology-over-polish-death-camp-faux-pas-as-insufficient Poland’s prime minister said Wednesday that a statement from the White House expressing “regret” over the president’s reference to Nazi death camps in the country as “Polish” was insufficient, and the faux pas threatened to further strain relations with Warsaw. ---
**Author:** ![BobLibDem](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/boblibdem/32/3149_2.png) [@BobLibDem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobLibDem)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2012, 3:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-diplomat-obama-strikes-again-ignorance-and-incompetence/623541/38 "2012-05-30T15:31:37Z")
Hey, at least he didn’t say [he desired the Polish people carnally and had abandoned the US.](http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1842&dat=19771230&id=hBIsAAAAIBAJ&sjid=BscEAAAAIBAJ&pg=3275,5984124) ---
**Author:** ![saoirse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/5daacb/32.png) [@saoirse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/saoirse)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2012, 3:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-diplomat-obama-strikes-again-ignorance-and-incompetence/623541/39 "2012-05-30T15:31:48Z")
> [@Terr](#): > > Oh there are quite a few Poles living (and voting) in the US. I am sure this will peel off a quite a few of their votes. The more the merrier. Yeah, only… not. Nobody actually votes based on shit like this. Except you, apparently. Is there some reason why you’re so sensitive to mentions of the long tradition of anti-semitism in Eastern Europe? ---
**Author:** ![Happy\_Lendervedder](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/happy_lendervedder/32/8488_2.png) [@Happy\_Lendervedder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Happy_Lendervedder)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2012, 3:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-diplomat-obama-strikes-again-ignorance-and-incompetence/623541/40 "2012-05-30T15:31:51Z")
> [@Sicks\_Ate](#): > > Well, [this](http://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2011/09/baracks_presidential_protocol_bloopers.html) sums up a few…the tone is pretty harsh. Of course it is; it was written by a woman whose career is built on bashing Obama and obsessing over the evils of the left wing. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-diplomat-obama-strikes-again-ignorance-and-incompetence/623541.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-diplomat-obama-strikes-again-ignorance-and-incompetence/623541.md?page=3)