David,
His shallowness is made worse by his assumption that he knows better than everyone else. He sees himself as the master of understanding people and therefore has no need to seek advice from protocol experts. Living in Indonesian at age 10 gives him complete insight into the Islamic world. Hearing his father’s tales about the Mau Mau uprising taught him everything he needs to know about British history and the problems of Africa. He uses very thin ties to establish his credibility, but these won’t bear the weight of real conflicts with people who aren’t known to swoon at hearing his voice. He has sensed a few areas where his “expertise” is limited, which is why he went to Gates and Petraeus on Iraq and Afgghanistan. But I fear that he will only stick with them until he thinks he has mastered the buzzwords or until they make a proposal that will cost him popularity. He is way over his head, but he will be the last to know it. And many people will pay for his ignorance and hubris.
