I doubt the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff can list where each command is located and its capabilities and vulnerabilities.
President: “General Dempsey, can you tell me the vulnerabilities of the 40th Infantry Division? To which carrier strike group does CRUDESGRU Three belong to? And if the Fifth Air Force is based at Yokota, and the Seventh Air Force is based at Osan, where can I find the Sixth Air Force?”
CJCS: “Gulp.”
I think Little Nemo was talking about the Unified Combatant Commands. That’s what I understood, anyway.
In the American government it’s the Senate which is responsible for maintaining and adding new tubes to the internet.
That the President needs to know about the vulnerabilities of TRANSCOM is equally puzzling to me.
But he did specifically mention units along with commands. Divisions and numbered Air Forces would certainly qualify in either or both counts.
Why the hell you’re running for president in the first place.
(A question that Ted Kennedy famously bungled in 1980.)
Seriously? There are currently eighteen divisions in the United States Army. If the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff can’t keep track of them, he’s really not up to the job.
Yes, the President should know the bare basics for 196 countries. It’s not enough for him to say “somebody will brief me on anything that’s important.” The President has to know enough to have an idea what’s important enough to be briefed on.
Along that line; Africa is, in fact, not a country.
CMC fnord!
Meh. I’d still vote for a guy if he couldn’t tell me anything about Togo. He should know it’s a country, yes, but I really don’t care who the head of state is.
Now, he should definitely know about Canada, Mexico, GB, Germany, Russia, etc.
And at least be able to find all the places we’ve invaded on a map.
Eh, I imagine the CIA and State dept. are capable of figuring out what countries in a given day or week are important enough to need the Prezs attention. And I don’t really see how knowing the name of the head of state of Eritrea would really make the President any more or less capable of knowing how important recent events in that country are in any case.
And as a practical matter, I seriously doubt any recent President knows the names of the Heads of State of all 190 odd countries by name. So far as I know, that hasn’t caused any serious (or unserious) problems.
I’d be worried if he didn’t know the name of the British Prime minister or King of Saudi Arabia, not so much because knowing those names is a serious problem (I’m sure it can be looked up in two or three seconds) but because not knowing the names of currently important leaders suggests the candidate in question hasn’t bothered to inform themselves on international affairs at all. Anyone who reads the NYT a few times a week can probably tell you who David Cameron is (heh, almost wrote Gordon Brown, but then I’m not running for Pesident).
But even if you read every foreign affairs magazine, Senate foreign policy committee briefing and every major American paper, your probably still not going to know the leader of the Seychelles off the top of your head.
I don’t think I would expect a candidate to be familar with Texas’ (or any state’s) sodomy laws; but I think they should have some idea of the consequences of Lawrence v. Texas for the right of privacy and the constitutionality of government regulation of private consenting sexual conduct. To be fair, I suppose it could be argued that those are mostly state rather than federal issues.
I would add that knowing approximate ratios of Shiites to Sunnis worldwide (and in regions of major concern politically) would also be worthwhile knowledge.
Or just knowing enough to ask the question.
There’s plenty of people who would have said Kuwait wasn’t an important country in 1990. Then it was invaded by Iraq and American troops had to be sent to the Middle East to liberate it. And the presence of American troops in the Middle East is the main reason why al Qaeda attacked the United States in 2001.
Vietnam wasn’t regarded as an important country in 1955. Korea wasn’t regarded as an important country in 1949.
Maybe we need to know something about these countries before they reach the point where we have to invade them. Find out what bombs are ticking instead of waiting for the explosions.
Actually, General Dempsey probably can, since he has been in the Army for four decades and was head of TRADOC. Could he list each of the numbered Air Forces, their strengths and vulnerabilities, and where they are located? I’ll ask him at the next trivia night in the Tank.
But the idea that this is essential knowledge for the President? Not even close. Similarly for knowing things about 196 countries. I believe that you’re focused on facts that are better described as trivia.
Reminds me of a friend of mine who memorized the world capitals when he was in 5th grade. At his wedding, the best man had a contest to see who could name the most world capitals: the groom or the wedding party. It was all in good fun, of course. The best man asked the groom to name the capital of Bhutan, then asked the guests the capital of France. The groom then was asked about South Georgia and the Sandwich Islands, and the guests got Scotland. And so it went… the groom got one wrong.
Shame he can’t be president. Oh, and I suppose he is English, too, but still.
know enough middle eastern history to not kick over the first domino, oops, too late for that…
I generally agree with what you’re saying. I’ve never understood the importance some people attach to memorizing capital cities. What does it matter if the capital of Wyoming is Cheyenne or Laramie?
But I don’t see the things I mentioned as the same kind of trivia. Knowing what the top domestic and foreign policy issues are for a country are useful information not trivial pursuit questions.
Foolsguinea mentioned Suriname in his post. Their top foreign policy issue is a dispute over territorial waters with neighbouring Guyana. Sounds trivial right? But there are offshore oil fields involved. So which side do you think is right - Guyana or Suriname? And which side would be better getting these oil fields from an American point of view?
The President of Suriname is Desi Bouterse. If he died of a heart attack next week, should the reaction be “Thank God, that dictator is finally dead and Suriname can be free” or “Oh God, Bouterse was the only person capable of preventing a bloody civil war from erupting” or “Who cares? Vice President Ameerali has been running the country for years anyway”?
You should know that much of what you say is going to be misunderstood by a large segment of the population …
…and frequently twisted by your political enemies who actually understand.
Basic knowledge of science. Be familiar with the scientific method, and know some basic facts about some of the major scientific principles, particularly if they are politically charged (examples include the theory of evolution).
You should also know when to defer to experts when you don’t know something, and you should be able to tell the difference between credible and non-credible sources.
You should know that evolution is a fact. We may not know every detail, but it is still a fact. Like gravity.
You should know that, right now, most abortions are legal.
Uh . . . what is the third one? Oops. (Perry, meet Opal.)