If you still think Obama is intelligent . . .

[werepossum]

Graduating from Harvard is no de facto proof of intelligence, but magna cum laude Juris Doctor is rather more convincing than a common baccalaureate.

No, I am not making the argument that everyone that graduates from Harvard is of great intelligence, but those that graduate magna cum laude and is the president of the Harvard Law Review are probably pretty smart. I don't need to see all of his records to come to that conclusion, unless I think the Harvard faculty are a bunch of retards or if I am just trying to down Obama cause I don't like him.

These are both true. I should specifically address the claims that Obama is noticeably more intelligent than the average President, or for that matter the average candidate. I'm not arguing that Obama is an idiot, or of less than above average intelligence. I'm just arguing that these claims that Obama is the smartest President ever (usually accompanied with claims that Bush/Perry/Bachmann/Palin/etc. are lucky to have avoided the short bus) are not supported in my opinion.

The simplest explanation usually being the correct one, I'd say it's standard policy to use teleprompters, regardless of the length of the remarks or speech.. so that's what they did. Reading anything else into it is purely a function of personal bias/agenda.

Probably true, but - three minutes?

 

[zsdersw]

Probably true, but - three minutes?

Three minutes, three seconds, three hours... if it's standard procedure, it doesn't matter. I'm also reasonably certain Obama's handlers have infinitely bigger fish to fry than determining the length a speech must be for teleprompters to become appropriate.

Is it 4 minutes? 5? 10? How about 3.5? 4.25? If our goal is efficient government, the kind of OCD required to determine the speech length at which teleprompters become appropriate is exactly what we should be happy to have avoided.

 

[werepossum]

Three minutes, three seconds, three hours... if it's standard procedure, it doesn't matter. I'm also reasonably certain Obama's handlers have infinitely bigger fish to fry than determining the length a speech must be for teleprompters to become appropriate.

Probably true.

 

[WackyDan]

No, I am not making the argument that everyone that graduates from Harvard is of great intelligence, but those that graduate magna cum laude and is the president of the Harvard Law Review are probably pretty smart. I don't need to see all of his records to come to that conclusion, unless I think the Harvard faculty are a bunch of retards or if I am just trying to down Obama cause I don't like him.



Thank you.

Smart does not equal common sense or wisdom of experience.

 

[Don Vito Corleone]

There are plenty of legitimate reasons to criticize the President (as there are for pretty much every President), but I don't think lack of intelligence is among them. He is clearly, in my view, a highly intelligent person.

 

[werepossum]

There are plenty of legitimate reasons to criticize the President (as there are for pretty much every President), but I don't think lack of intelligence is among them. He is clearly, in my view, a highly intelligent person.

Because . . . ?

 

[Don Vito Corleone]

Because . . . ?

I don't know that I understand your question.

It seems obvious to me based on everything I've observed about the President in interviews that he is an exceptionally thoughtful and bright person. This is a teleprompter-free environment and yet he always comes off as well-read and well-reasoned in interviews in my view.

My opinion is further reinforced by the fact that he was the Editor-in-Chief of the Harvard Law Review. I don't know that the significance of that is as plain to non-lawyers as it is to lawyers, but it's an extraordinary accomplishment and one which would simply not be possible unless he were an exceptionally intelligent person.

Do I think President Obama is the smartest President of all time? I tend to think he isn't - we have had some truly brilliant men serve in that office - but since most of the real contenders for that title were dead more than a century before I was born I don't feel competent to opine on that.

The focus on the President's use of teleprompters is a silly, intellectually dishonest way for those on the right to try to discredit his intelligence. I think this is a senseless exercise given that there are plenty of reasonable criticisms of President Obama which have nothing to do with intelligence. Obviously there is far more to being an effective leader than raw brainpower. Jimmy Carter is a brilliant person but was an ineffectual President, for example. If memory serves the man with the highest IQ ever recorded works as a nightclub bouncer. The question of whether President Obama has the vision and leadership skills to be a great President remains to be answered, but honestly I am skeptical of whether he does. That has nothing to do with his intelligence, in any case.

 

[ohnoes]

and.... that's the end of the thread.

 

[werepossum]

I don't know that I understand your question.

It seems obvious to me based on everything I've observed about the President in interviews that he is an exceptionally thoughtful and bright person. This is a teleprompter-free environment and yet he always comes off as well-read and well-reasoned in interviews in my view.

My opinion is further reinforced by the fact that he was the Editor-in-Chief of the Harvard Law Review. I don't know that the significance of that is as plain to non-lawyers as it is to lawyers, but it's an extraordinary accomplishment and one which would simply not be possible unless he were an exceptionally intelligent person.

Do I think President Obama is the smartest President of all time? I tend to think he isn't - we have had some truly brilliant men serve in that office - but since most of the real contenders for that title were dead more than a century before I was born I don't feel competent to opine on that.

The focus on the President's use of teleprompters is a silly, intellectually dishonest way for those on the right to try to discredit his intelligence. I think this is a senseless exercise given that there are plenty of reasonable criticisms of President Obama which have nothing to do with intelligence. Obviously there is far more to being an effective leader than raw brainpower. Jimmy Carter is a brilliant person but was an ineffectual President, for example. If memory serves the man with the highest IQ ever recorded works as a nightclub bouncer. The question of whether President Obama has the vision and leadership skills to be a great President remains to be answered, but honestly I am skeptical of whether he does. That has nothing to do with his intelligence, in any case.

Well said.

and.... that's the end of the thread.

Agreed. I'm pretty much over being pissed about it anyway.

 

[Bird222]

I'm pretty much over being pissed about it anyway.

Question is why were you so bothered about Obama using a teleprompter in the first place?

 

[CallMeJoe]

Question is why were you so bothered about Obama using a teleprompter in the first place?

It's a Tea Party Thing. Michele Bachmann gets great applause from her pledge never to use a teleprompter as president.

Perhaps they think it's some sort of Socialist Mind Control Device.

Perhaps they fear Teleprompterism will impurify their precious bodily fluids.

 

[First]

I'm just arguing that these claims that Obama is the smartest President ever (usually accompanied with claims that Bush/Perry/Bachmann/Palin/etc. are lucky to have avoided the short bus) are not supported in my opinion.

Yeah but you invented this strawman out of thin air.

 

[CallMeJoe]

I should specifically address the claims that Obama is noticeably more intelligent than the average President, or for that matter the average candidate...

I'm just arguing that these claims that Obama is the smartest President ever...

Which claim are you addressing? Who is claiming Mr. Obama is the Most Intelligent President Ever?

Can we at least agree Mr. Obama is likely the most intelligent president so far of the 21st Century?

 

[werepossum]

Question is why were you so bothered about Obama using a teleprompter in the first place?

It's a three minute speech. Three minutes.

Which claim are you addressing? Who is claiming Mr. Obama is the Most Intelligent President Ever?

Can we at least agree Mr. Obama is likely the most intelligent president so far of the 21st Century?

I've actually heard several progressive pundits claim that Obama is likely the most intelligent President ever. And claims of his high intelligence are hardly scarce; one can rarely avoid them for a whole day, if one follows the talking heads.

Again, by what measure do you claim that he is more intelligent than Bush? If I HAD to put money on the question, then yes, I'd probably go with Obama. But again, that would be strictly on the basis of his academic record - something that he himself refused to release - as far as I can know it. Nothing in his Presidential tenure has evidenced any great intelligence, at least above and beyond the level common for successful politicians.

 

[CallMeJoe]

I've actually heard several progressive pundits claim that Obama is likely the most intelligent President ever. And claims of his high intelligence are hardly scarce; one can rarely avoid them for a whole day, if one follows the talking heads.

At least we've gone from universal acclamation to "several progressive pundits". I don't see any problem with a general assumption of high intelligence for a Harvard magna cum laude J.D.

Again, by what measure do you claim that he is more intelligent than Bush? If I HAD to put money on the question, then yes, I'd probably go with Obama. But again, that would be strictly on the basis of his academic record - something that he himself refused to release - as far as I can know it. Nothing in his Presidential tenure has evidenced any great intelligence, at least above and beyond the level common for successful politicians.

I did say likely, and shall readily cede that book smarts do not a Great Leader make, nor does great intelligence necessarily yield political acumen.

 

[Bird222]

Question is why were you so bothered about Obama using a teleprompter in the first place?

It's a three minute speech. Three minutes.

So what? Why would that tick you off? I don't watch a president's speech and think "oh god he's using a teleprompter again". So the question remains, why it ticked you off so much?

 

[sarsipias1234]

Every politician has to participate in our corrupt society and in doing so they become corrupt themselves.

This corruption is insidious as everyone is behaving the same way so everyone reacts accordingly.

This is very animal like behavior of reacting to negative behavior with negative behavior with no forethought to the outcome of their evil actions.

 

[Fear No Evil]

OP: Nobody thinks Obama is intelligent anymore. Lock this one up.