Here's what I take from this: "C++ is by no means an easy language to work with, so the idea is that we will avoid its complexity when possible."
C++ is a large, multi-paradigm language. It gives you choices and one is free to abuse those choices. But having more options gives you more power to express.
I think with modern C++ style, boost and C++11 its "difficult-to-work-with" reputation is massively overstated. It is possible to write succinct code with good design and get massive performance benefits.