The Peter Principle (Redux)

I have referred to 'The Peter Principle' from time to time in describing the performance of someone in a particular job.

Some people are not cognizant of 'The Peter Principle'. Therefore, below you will find a descriptive note taken from WikiPedia.

The Peter Principle is the principle that "in a hierarchy every employee tends to rise to his level of incompetence." It was formulated by Dr. Laurence J. Peter and Raymond Hull in their 1969 book The Peter Principle, a humorous treatise which also introduced the "salutary science of Hierarchiology", "inadvertently founded" by Peter. It holds that in a hierarchy, members are promoted so long as they work competently. Sooner or later they are promoted to a position at which they are no longer competent (their "level of incompetence"). This principle can be modeled and has theoretical validity. Peter's Corollary states that "in time, every post tends to be occupied by an employee who is incompetent to carry out his duties" and adds that "the actual work is accomplished by those employees who have not yet reached their level of incompetence".

This being noted, may I refer you to the current performance of our President.

Now we are witnessing his third political disaster in his first 18 months in office. And they were all (in tennis terms) unforced errors, meaning they were shaped by the president's political judgment, indifference and instincts.

It is my opinion that this inventory of presidential mistakes could (and probably should) be fatal:

• 1.) There was the unnecessary war over his healthcare proposal and its misleading (and now evident) excessive cost.

• 2.) There was his indifference to the views and hopes of the majority of voters regarding illegal immigration.

• 3.) And now the past 40 days or so of dodging and floundering in the face of an environmental calamity.

As evidenced by recent elections, he has not understood the mood of the electorate. It is evident that the landscape of the American political system is changing and, based on his performance, it is completely understandable.

You can make your own decision. Case closed.

DE