Obama's Intelligence, Part 1

2009-2-1 13:42:00

I thought I would make a few comments on Barack Obama and the direction he is going.

I said earlier that I planned on writing a summary post about him, but so far there has not been much unexpected about his policies. He has fulfilled one promise, however, and hit the ground running. He has stirred up activity and direction. I'll comment on a few things, but not all.

First, I see some correspondence between Ford and/or Carter and Bush and/or Obama.

The press saw Gerald Ford as a dunce and the comics portrayed him as a bumbling idiot. Then along came Jimmy Carter who supposedly had a high IQ and was highly educated. Carter was portrayed by the press as perhaps the smartest, most intellectual president of all time. Now the country could finally be proud to have a smart president whose only fault seemed to be that he was a Christian "born-againer" who "lusted" after women.

The media kept up the "Carter is smart" facade as long as it could, but it didn't take long for the people to observe otherwise.

His wage and price controls and bumbling of the economy soon lead to the establishment of a misery index. Then he threatened the security of the nation by giving away the Panama Canal and was completely impotent in dealing with the Iranian hostage crises. By the end of his one term presidency no one was thinking, "There goes our smartest president." By this time even the media meekly withdrew from any focus upon his intelligence.

Years later now a new generation exists that is unaware of what life was like in the Carter administration. The media has done much to resurrect Carter's supposed intelligence, ignoring the outright stupid deal he made with North Korea that we would give them nuclear technology if they would promise to be nice and use it for peaceful purposes. Instead, the friendly media direct us to his building homes (that are now falling apart) and his Noble Peace Prize.

Today we have a repeat of history. We have just moved from President Bush who the media has portrayed as perhaps the dumbest president in history to Obama who is being shoved in our face as perhaps the smartest president in history. The media has gone beyond this, however and presented him as perhaps the most righteous, most hopeful, best speaker, most perfect man or president the world has ever seen.

The question to ask then is this? Is Obama living up to his image of high intelligence or is he showing signs of evaporating this image as happened to Jimmy Carter?

Let's look at a few things.

Has Obama done anything I would consider intelligent or making a smart move?

Only one I can think of that is in the best interest of the country. Because of his tremendous popularity created by the media he has a power in his hands that can be used for good or evil. He potentially used this for good by giving his first interview as President on January 27, 2009 to the Muslim television station Al Arabiya.

While many on both sides were upset at this I think it was an intelligent move. Making this his first interview tells the Muslim world that they are a top priority for his administration.

He told them, "I have Muslim members of my family. I have lived in Muslim countries."

Obama said, according to a White House transcript, "My job to the Muslim world is to communicate that the Americans are not your enemy."

The most important thing he told them was that "We are not your enemy." This statement alone could do much to diffuse animosity toward us.

Now if he acts wisely he can use the political capital gained to diffuse animosity and increase Muslim support toward the USA.

If he does not, and they view future moves as betraying his Muslim heritage, then this initial good will could backfire in a big way.

A second smart move he made, but in the interests of his party rather than the country is to attempt to select Republican Senator Judd Gregg as his commerce secretary.

This has the appearance of his being open-minded and reaching across the isle to include the other party, but is it?

I would submit that it is not, but instead an example of a cunning intelligence that we will see surface more in the future.

What happens if Gregg accepts?

If he does then his Senate seat will be vacant in a state ran by New Hampshire's Democratic governor, John Lynch who will most likely appoint a Democrat to fill his seat.

This will then give the possibility of a filibuster proof 60 seat senate majority which will move Obama and the Democrats toward having a full unchecked power to do what ever they want. This is like a chess move for Obama, sacrificing a bishop to gain a queen, a move any chess player would make.

If Senator Gregg is smart he will reject the gesture and if Obama is sincere in reaching across the isle he will select a Republican that gains him no political advantage. I would suggest Steve Forbes for the job.