Ivy League Liability

[WhyteRain]

Do we not want our leader to be the best and the brightest?

Intelligence is overrated, especially in a president.  (And I say that as one who is in the top fraction of 1% in every general intelligence test.)

What's more important than intelligence, especially in a president?  A record of good judgment.

Remember, George Washington was the dumbest man in the room at all his cabinet meetings, which included such intellectual giants as Hamilton and Jefferson.  What made Washington a  great President while Jefferson was not (and even Hamilton's fervent admirers agree he'd've made a poor president)?  His amazing capacity for good judgment -- usually delivered after a long period of contemplation of the best ideas of real intellects like Hamilton, Jefferson, and Madison.

[modify:]  I recall the president of a company I worked for saying to me, "You know what the secret of success in business is?  It's hiring people who are smarter than you."

[WhyteRain]

Do we not want our leader to be the best and the brightest?

I realize there are people in every society who want society to be commanded, in as many aspects possible, by a "philosopher king" or "the man on the white horse".  In America, we call such people liberals.

It's unsurprising that such people are angered and distressed if they think the king is not as smart as they are.  Of course, if the leader claims he doesn't want to rule society as much as they demand, then they'll claim that even a man -- even one with TWO Ivy League degrees (like Bush or Romney) -- is somehow secretly dumb.  It's a psychological defense mechanism.

[WhyteRain]

Do we not want our leader to be the best and the brightest?

I realize there are people in every society who want society to be commanded, in as many aspects possible, by a "philosopher king" or "the man on the white horse".  In America, we call such people liberals.

It's unsurprising that such people are angered and distressed if they think the king is not as smart as they are.  Of course, if the leader claims he doesn't want to rule society as much as they demand, then they'll claim that even a man -- even one with TWO Ivy League degrees (like Bush or Romney) -- is somehow secretly dumb.  It's a psychological defense mechanism.

Well, I am not George Bush's biggest detractor, but you have to admit he wasn't the sharpest tool in the shed. I mean he went to Yale - the very definition of a safety school... <joking/> But in all reality, he wasn't the sharpest; Romney, on the other hand, is much smarter.

Besides the fact that Bush spoke with a Texas twang and Romney doesn't, what in the world makes you think that Romney "is much smarter"?

I'll bet dollars to donuts that I just put my finger on it.

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At a minimum, I think we can agree that it doesn't "prep" them very well, if the last four presidents are much indication.

And, personally, I don't want a guy with his finger on the nuclear button who "has been incredibly successful at everything else he's done".  He's likely to have a dangerous self-confidence.

[WhyteRain]

Do we not want our leader to be the best and the brightest?

I realize there are people in every society who want society to be commanded, in as many aspects possible, by a "philosopher king" or "the man on the white horse".  In America, we call such people liberals.

It's unsurprising that such people are angered and distressed if they think the king is not as smart as they are.  Of course, if the leader claims he doesn't want to rule society as much as they demand, then they'll claim that even a man -- even one with TWO Ivy League degrees (like Bush or Romney) -- is somehow secretly dumb.  It's a psychological defense mechanism.

Well, I am not George Bush's biggest detractor, but you have to admit he wasn't the sharpest tool in the shed. I mean he went to Yale - the very definition of a safety school... <joking/> But in all reality, he wasn't the sharpest; Romney, on the other hand, is much smarter.

Besides the fact that Bush spoke with a Texas twang and Romney doesn't, what in the world makes you think that Romney "is much smarter"?

I'll bet dollars to donuts that I just put my finger on it.

You must be logged in to read this quote.

At a minimum, I think we can agree that it doesn't "prep" them very well, if the last four presidents are much indication.

And, personally, I don't want a guy with his finger on the nuclear button who "has been incredibly successful at everything else he's done".  He's likely to have a dangerous self-confidence.

I always thought that the biggest reason to doubt Bush the Younger's intelligence was in fact his "dangerous self-confidence", and his reluctance to revisit policies and decisions in the light of changing evidence.

In his first year in office, Bush changed his position on McCain-Feingold.  Then later he changed on his opposition to "The Surge" and on his support for Harriet Miers.

That's the kind of humility I like in a President.  (Compare the current guy who literally thinks his rise to power "marked the day the oceans ceased to rise and the Earth began to heal" and that the 2010 elections wouldn't be like a GOP landslide like 1994 because "this time, you have me!"  Now that is ample evidence of the insane level of self-confidence -- self-delusion really -- that endangers us all.)