While Al Gore was the driving force behind the fraudulent and since discredited movie “An Inconvenient Truth,” another inconvenient truth is slowly and very quietly ever-so-slightly starting to be considered about Barack Obama.
People are unhappy with Barack Obama. A majority of Americans like him personally, but disapprove of his job performance. The 2010 election was a stunning rebuke of his governance, which he either cannot or will not accept.
This has led many liberals to ask a simple question in a variety of ways.
How can a man so incredibly bright…so exceptionally brilliant…not get it?
How can an intellectual sophisticate like Barack Obama fail to connect with the common man?
How can such an erudite post-modern colossus of knowledge be unable to fix problems?
Liberals conclude with the notion that maybe America is simply too large, too complex, and too tough for one person to govern.
This fits in with the Obama narrative of him as perfection. There is no possible way anything can be his fault. If he cannot govern effectively, then nobody can. America is ungovernable.
I have to categorically reject this train of thought. Barack Obama has not had to deal with anything remotely as difficult as some presidents. Yes, the 2008 financial crisis was bad, but the FDR Great Depression was worse. George Washington had to motivate the American soldiers at Valley Forge. Abraham Lincoln had to prevent the Union from being ripped asunder, as American brothers killed each other.
John F. Kennedy had to deal with a possible nuclear war that could have ended everything. George W. Bush faced the worst attack on mainland American soil ever.
All of these men governed. People can say that times were different “then,” but George W. Bush governed through very tough times very recently. Barack Obama is quietly continuing some of his policies, while publicly refusing to concede that as an admission that those specific policies work.
I am not willing to put Barack Obama above the entire history of this country. America is governable. We don’t need to improve. He does.
Yet even Republicans fall into the trap of saying that they don’t understand why such a bright guy doesn’t get it.
This leads me to state an inconvenient truth that most people dare not utter.
Maybe Barack Obama is not that bright.
At this point liberal heads are exploding. When they reattach them, I will state why I feel this way.
Liberal snobs who wake up in the morning thinking of new ways to sneer at Sarah Palin should be happy to know that she has belted them in the chops in the best way possible, going after their “intelligence.”
http://www.facebook.com/note.php?note_id=463364218434
As for Barack Obama, I have zero interest in attacking the man personally. Just think about something. Barack Obama does not believe in American exceptionalism. Every nation in his world is exceptional. He said so himself, that every nation believes in their own exceptionalism. If this is true, and everyone is exceptional, then nobody is exceptional.
Yet many liberals including Mr. Obama himself believe in Obama exceptionalism. He is a once in a lifetime leader.
(He was the one who said “We are the ones we have been waiting for.”)
Yet what has this man ever done that makes him so exceptional?
Remove the emotion and passion, and answer the simple question. What makes him worthy of being seen as exceptional?
One can make the argument that he became President of the United States, which only 44 men have ever done. That is impressive, but so did George W. Bush. Liberals would never consider Bush exceptional.
Some will say that Barack Obama did go to Harvard, and you don’t graduate from Harvard without being exceptional.
This does not work for several reasons. George W. Bush graduated from Yale. They are both Ivy League graduates.
Also, and liberals be prepared to have your heads explode again…maybe Harvard itself is not that special.
Now I have crossed the line. Nobody criticizes Harvard. Harvard is proof of brilliance.
Not really. No. It is not.
Harvard may have been special at one point, but nowadays there is rampant grade inflation in universities. When 80% of students are getting As and Bs, As and Bs become meaningless. This fits in perfectly with the narrative of defining down exceptionalism.
William Buckley once said that he would rather be governed by the first 300 names in the telephone book then the Ivy League faculty he encountered. Say what you want, but Mr. Buckley was exceptional. He was an entire movement. Mr. Obama has not gotten to that level yet, and may never get there.
My MBA should give everybody some perspective. I received my MBA from USC. USC was in the top 20 MBA program when I was there, but not in the top of the top like the Ivy Leagues.
(I graduated in the top 95% of my class. Read that euphemism carefully before praising me. Then tell me about what “jobs saved or created” means. It means lowering the bar.)
Yet what were we studying in my classes? What were the reading assignments?
Harvard case studies from decades ago.
Some will say this proves Harvard’s greatness. Actually the reverse is true. If the same case studies are being taught anywhere and everywhere, attending Harvard is not necessary. Professors nationwide are basically teaching the same material.
If offered a chance 20 years ago to attend Harvard, I would absolutely go because I know it would impress potential employers. They would believe the hype. Inside, I would not believe it at all. I would be playing the phony game.
Some would point out that even getting into Harvard makes one special.
No. There is affirmative action, which comes in many forms. It has benefited black liberals in the form of allowing for diversity. It has also benefited white conservatives in the form of “legacy” admissions. Barack Obama may have benefited from his color. George W. Bush may have benefited from his family name. Liberals will absolutely embrace the latter part while discounting the former.
Some will say that Barack Obama did more than attend Harvard. He became the head of the Harvard Law Review. This proves his brilliance.
Not at all. There is still the affirmative action issue. Like any other organization, the Harvard Law Review is political. Diversity and multiculturalism are important.
I am not saying Barack Obama is a dummy. I am just claiming that there is no evidence that he is at the very right corner of the parabola of the normal distribution of intelligence. He might not be past three standard deviations of average.
This is not about race. Dr. Thomas Sowell and Dr. Walter Williams are absolutely brilliant. They are two of the finest economic minds in history, although they would both defer to Milton Friedman.
Condoleeza Rice is in the stratosphere of intelligence. In addition to having been the Provost at Stanford, she speaks fluent Russian, is a classically trained pianist, and can break down complicated football concepts. The woman is impressive in terms of breadth and depth of knowledge.
I cannot think of anything Barack Obama has ever done that makes him exceptional. He is not Charles Krauthammer in terms of explaining complex concepts in a simple manner. No liberal in their right mind would challenge Mr. Krauthammer to a debate. They know he is exceptional.
As a young man, Bill Clinton not only went to Oxford, but he excelled, often being “first in his class.” I do not have to agree with him on issues to see that he is very bright. He communicates very effectively.
What was Barack Obama doing as a young man?
He was getting stoned. He was Barry O, a stoner and a slacker. I am amazed at how many liberals blasted Bush for being a cocaine user (never proven but not denied), while totally giving Obama a pass. Bush’s brain was somehow limited due to drugs, but for Barack Obama, cocaine is no big deal.
(Liberals reconcile this by saying that alcohol is worse, and Bush was a drunk while Obama only did drugs. Anything that fits the narrative of Bush as dumb and Obama as smart has to fit, no matter how square the peg and round the hole. Obama smoked pot, which in large enough doses can diminish capacity. The scars are permanent, while quitting alcohol can lead to complete recovery.)
So what else makes Barack Obama special?
He is considered “worldly.”
Worldly is an elitist term used by Americans who fawn over foreign culture, especially Europe. Think about how Hollywood and academics fawn over British people at parties, not knowing that back in England these people with the “sophisticated” accents are not the least bit special.
Being from Europe or overseas anywhere does not automatically make somebody bright. The Chinese by and large are bright people, but they have millions of people possessing below average intelligence due to the large opium problem. In America we see the best and brightest of other nations because that is what those nations want us to see. Every nation has imbeciles. The fact that Barack Obama was raised partly in Indonesia does not make him any more or less intelligent than anybody raised in America. Americans are not low class slobs who sit around all day eating Big Macs and playing video games. Virtually every major benefit to society in every field came from Americans born and raised here.
The reason the leftist intellocrats find him so intelligent is because he is one of them. He is an academic. If he is not special, then maybe they are not that special either.
I had these professors in college. They were not special. They were boring and pretentious. They talked to each other and reinforced their own superiority.
What it comes down to is that Barack Obama has some level of book smarts. He does not have street smarts.
(Spending time on the South Side of Chicago does not automatically make one streetwise. Again, he was not literally on the street. His wife was making six figures. They were comfortable.)
George W. Bush is seen by leftists as intellectually uncurious, but he is great at reading people. He is street smart. He can tell when somebody is full of garbaggio.
Barack Obama does not read people. He cannot analyze and process basic human reactions. In terms of dealing with the public, he has been tone deaf. Bill Clinton was the master at faking contrition. He knew how to read the tea leaves and tell people what they wanted to hear. He felt the heat and saw the light. Barack Obama sees nothing. His remarks since the election contained zero self-reflection or inward analysis.
Dennis Miller was the first person to say that the political correctness with Mr. Obama leads to every sentence critical of him being prefaced with an inability to understand how somebody so great could be this fallible. Miller finally said, “maybe he is just mediocre.”
Yes. Maybe he is just mediocre.
For the millionth time, this does not make him a bad guy.
If everybody was great, nobody would be.
Yet when trying to figure out why Barack Obama is only doing an average job at best, and reacting in a manner that is substandard, it is because maybe…just maybe…he is pretty ordinary himself.
As for his leftist critics, they are actually far below average because while everybody else can see that the emperor has no clothes, they still insist that we are just blind.
We can see just fine.
We see a man who talks a great game and delivers average results at best.
Maybe that is his maximum capability.
eric
You’re absolutley wrong about liberals. We most ertainly do not believe “that maybe America is simply too large, too complex, and too tough for one person to govern.” First of all, it’s a nonsequitur. America is not governed by just one man. Never has been. I suppose it could be. But that’s moot. America is a republic with governing functions spread throughout local, state and federal bodies, mostly by executives and bicmaeral houses of legislature, though at the local level that varies.
The president is not the king. He does rule by decree over every aspect of American governance. He has limited powers.
No liberal wonders “How can a man so incredibly bright…so exceptionally brilliant…not get it?” We know he gets “it.” We also know that by “get it,” conservatives simply mean “think like me.”
No liberal wonders “How can an intellectual sophisticate like Barack Obama fail to connect with the common man?” It’s a contradiction. We understand that Obama is an “intellectual sophisticate,” which by definition means he’s not always going to have an easy time connecting with the common man.
And no liberal is dumb enough to wonder “How can such an erudite post-modern colossus of knowledge be unable to fix problems?” He’s not all that “post-modern” and he’s not a “colossus of knowledge.” He’s bright and articulate, but he’s really a very mainstream Chicago Democrat. That’s why he has a hard time fixing problems – trying to “fix problems” by working within the mainstream of the Democrat party is like hearding cats.
So, I would suggest you really stop trying to read the minds of “liberals.” It’s not your forte.
And this personal assault on Obama doesn’t really explain anything.
JMJ
I dont think he busted his lip playing basketball.
I think the prompter went blank and he bit himself trying to improvise.
I entered the University of Hawaii at 16. There were students involved in some rather complicated electives who still couldnt poach an egg.
His recent remarks on everything fron Assange to N’ Korea shows he just doesnt get it. The excersises in the Yellow sea were planned months ahead. Hes made no significant call on this yet when Palin gets North and South slipped at the tongue the whole moonbat nation gets all lit up.
Heres the lowdown on ethanol, starting with Carters “Gasohol”
Mostly everyone knew it was a bad idead in the 70sand yet politics at plat persisted regardkess of famine and crappy over rated fuel.
Although the Reagan administration initially blocked the loans, the farm lobby prevailed and the new administration added its seal of approval to ethanol. Nevertheless, 9 of the 12 recipients of the loans the Farmers Home Administration made for ethanol plants went bankrupt.
http://www.cato.org/pubs/pas/pa-241.html
Read the whole thing, the shennanigans are unbelievable
Ethanol goes way back before Carter, Micky. Farmers were cooping to make the stuff for years. They were using it to power their machines and vechicles. When OPEC embargoed oil, and prices here shot through the roof, the farmers were able to lobby politicians through the media, with stories running on every network and news show on the benefits of ethanol. The pols had little choice. Farm districts were already under pressure, and then the big commuter cities of the coasts and mid-west became under the spell.
Just the same, as the years went by, ethanol was never produced in large amounts, and your whole understanding of it, Micky, is hyperbole. It was a tuiny and insignificant matter UNTIL BUSH AND THE GOP CAME TO POWER. Starting in 2001, production began to climb dramatically, along with the subsidies, and rose more than 300% by the end of the Bush/GOP years. Ethanol did not become a serious issue UNTIL BUSH AND THE GOP CAME TO POWER.
JMJ
Oh, God, I was just reading that CATO piece and couldn’t help but notice the date – 1995! LOL!
JMJ
Our President reminds me of a friend who was also a classmate at
a major university. He majored in pre-med courses and eventually did become a doctor.
Frankly, he was brilliant. I studied at time with him, and could only marvel at his genius.
According to a few patients who know him, he is a horrible doctor. He is negligent, abusive, has no bedside manner, and is simply incmpetent.
I had a doctor at one time..who took years to diagnose a problem of mine that he, himself, had for years. I felt pity towards him, and finally,
changed physicians. I neve called to tell him why.
Over the short time he was my physician, he prescribed 40 medicomes, dropping all but 8 ultimately as senseless, with side effects not worth the ‘risks.
I once knew a doctor who drank himself silly every night, with
vodka.
One can be “bright”, and “have an attorneys mind” as a former
co-worker described some people., yet be an idiot.
Obama smirked at John McCain during their debates. He knew
he had him, McCain not being any kind of debator.
The Democrats loved Obama..most especially the civil servants.
Now, im sure they wish they had voted for McCain., with the 2 year freeze on pay increases for all federal employees. I understand our President didnt even consult with the unions. This will save 19b dollars over 5 years.
In the meantime, our President refuses to talk to No. Korea, which is a nuclear power and has one of the largest armies in the world, with
missiles aimed at the South. But he still is negotiating with Ahmad, the mullahs, and the parliamentary leaders of Iran, which have all said, Jews will be wiped off the map, the Holoaust never happened, and their recent protests were
provoked by Israel, the US and Britain.
BTW, for those uninformed, a leading nuke scientist was assassinateded the other day in Iran, and the other passenger in the car, hurt (also
a scientist). Iran blames the Jews and the USA, just as he blamed us for
the virus which most believe was introduced by locals.
What will it take for Obama to wake up I ask, a Saudi prince?
A recent poll shows him in a close election in 2 years..unless he faces
Sarah Palin. Hmmm…maybe we can get the Jews to vote smart and vote
for her? I would.
Is Obama smart..you decide?