Obama and Company: The Best and the Brightest?

By their own testimony, liberals tell us how smart and compassionate they are. They assure us that they are better than the rest of us and therefore worthy of trust. They know what we need and are so kindhearted that they can be counted on to deliver it.
This attitude has existed for centuries. Going back at least as far as Rousseau, those on the left have described themselves as intellectuals—and sometimes as the “intelligentsia.” Thus, Woodrow Wilson was billed as a brilliant college professor, while Franklin Roosevelt was able to promise the nation he knew how to get it out of the Great Depression because he was advised by a “Brain Trust.” John Kennedy said about the same in boasting that he was counseled by “the best and brightest.” Meanwhile, Jimmy Carter was a nuclear engineer; Bill Clinton was a super-smart policy wonk, and even Al Gore and John Kerry had better college grades than George W. Bush.
In contrast, Republicans have been dismissed as dim, immoral or weak. Calvin Coolidge was so silent that he never saw the depression coming. Herbert Hoover was too out of touch to do anything about the economic downturn when it arrived. And while Dwight Eisenhower may have won a war, as president he was a slow-witted grandfather, far less sharp than Adlai Stevenson. Richard Nixon, it is true was smart, but would you really want to buy a used car from him? As for Gerald Ford, he played football once too often without a helmet, whereas Ronald Reagan was so dense that he depended upon others to provide his scripts. George Bush the elder, of course, was a wimp who did not even know what a supermarket scanner was for.
Now we come to Barack Obama. He, as opposed to George W. Bush, is supposed to be a genius. Bush was a softheaded evangelical who barely managed a C average at Yale, while Obama was an honor student. He is also articulate, well informed, and can think on his feet. Moreover, by his own acknowledgment, he “gets it,” where John McCain did not.
Indeed, Obama is very intelligent. He is quick to grasp an issue and clever in his responses. Even his opponents recognize that his campaign was well organized and that he was flexible enough to overcome a series of setbacks. Indeed, the very magnitude of his electoral victory is deemed evidence of his superior mental acuity.
Nevertheless, Obama is not wise. He may be bold, audacious and cunning, but his judgment is seriously lacking. Obama is an ideologue. He is a true believer. Although he fooled the nation into believing he was a moderate, he is committed to far left solutions to most social problems. When he decides what to do, his conclusions are regularly clouded by a dedication to predetermined answers.
Obama tells us that he must radically transform education, medicine, and energy before he can solve our economic woes, but this has nothing to do with reality. He tells reporters that taxing charitable contributions at a higher rate will not reduce giving, yet high school students know this is ridiculous. Even his “best and brightest” advisors, such as Tim Geithner at the treasury, absurdly maintain that dictating the executive salaries of private companies is not a radical change.
Intelligence divorced from common sense is never sufficient. It may be impressive, but it is dangerous. The problem is that it can facilitate programs that turn a recession into a major depression and the most prosperous capitalist society in history into a second-rate outlier of Europe or China. It is surely not enough to confer legitimacy on a band of extremists who often do not seem to know how to shoot straight.
Melvyn L. Fein. Ph.D.
Professor of Sociology
Kennesaw State University