Maybe Tom Friedman should move. He seemingly would be happier, and we, well, we really just wouldn't give a damn.
I do want to be clear, though. I wouldn't care if he left or if he stayed; so don't hear this an echo of the old and stupid "love it or leave it" crowd. No, this is simply a compassionate outreach to a very confused individual, who really does need some guidance.
I do not believe that straight-jacket consistency in any matter is a virtue; flexibility is an invaluable survival skill. However, the consistent inconsistency of Friedman's thinking, with which he turns his column into a continuous muddle, surely must be seen as a vice. How he survives in his line of work is almost as hard to understand as is his own confusion.
He today has staked out positions on at least 3 issues completely at odds with former arguments. He now wants "high IQ" immigration, blames over-indebted homeowners for buying homes they just couldn't afford, and considers construction and retail jobs as somewhat beneath us.
But this guy has in the recent past favored the opposite position on each one of these points. He loved Greenspan's and Bush's push to push people into exotic and dangerous mortgages they couldn't afford. He welcomed hard-working, poorly educated common folk immigration from Mexico, because this willing and cheap labor would make our economy more competitive. And he stumped for the mass creation of low wage, entry level jobs which require little or no training to fill.
He also admires the way China, India, and Eastern Europe run an economy better than the way we do. And, oh yes, he says he believes the world is flat.
Perfect, maybe he can just rent a moving van, and drive to the places for which he has such high regard.
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