The Dumbest President...EVER! (Obama has surpassed James Buchanan in making the dumbest moves)

American Thinker ^ | 07/08/2010 | Stuart Schwartz

[SeekAndFind]

Barack Obama is the dumbest president...EVER.

That is a reasonable conclusion once you've assessed the first nineteen months of his presidency and compared it to the definition of intelligence put together by researchers in the field. Although the mainstream media have spent the last two years proclaiming Obama "super-smart" or, as Newsweek put it, "sort of God" in stature and brilliance, the 44^th president of the United States is poised to surpass our 15^th president, James Buchanan. Jr., as the White House occupant who has made the dumbest moves while in office. With two years left, he is on the fast track to last.

That takes some doing, for the leadership of the hapless Buchanan prior to the Civil War "has led to his consistent ranking by historians as one of the worst Presidents." This is the president who vetoed a college funding bill because "there were already too many educated people" in the young nation. Buchanan's judgment was so wretched that he thought anti-slavery forces could be convinced to give up their opposition by his personal assurances that slaves were "treated with kindness and humanity" and that poverty could be ended by simply printing more money. Sound familiar?

Barack Obama is dumb. How dumb? Alfred E. Newman dumb, says columnist David Limbaugh, who labeled him "President Alfred E. Obama" because of his blithe disregard of the basics of fiscal responsibility. Alfred E. Newman is the Mad magazine mascot, whose answer to every problem is his signature statement: "What, me worry?"

How dumb? How-many-Obamas-does-it-take-to-screw-in-a-light-bulb dumb. And in the answer lies the answer, the key to his pole position in the race to last: It takes 242. One to hold the light bulb, four to turn the ladder, eighteen to assess conformity to OSHA workplace requirements, four to assess the environmental impact of the burnt-out bulb disposal, twelve to participate in a task force to evaluate green energy solutions for a replacement bulb, eight to script his actions, four to script instructions and work the teleprompter, 23 to work with the justice department to sue the light bulb manufacturer...you get the picture. And, à la Buchanan, Obama never does get that light bulb changed.

That James Buchanan "fiddled while Rome burned" seems to be the consensus of historians. His approach to the raging controversy over slavery in the decade preceding the Civil War was based on ignoring evidence and acting upon events as he wished them to be, not as they were. Fast-forward to the present: Obama responds to the Gulf crisis by trying to move us toward the collapsed centralized green economy of Spain, ignoring the fact that even Spain acknowledges that "every 'green job' created with government money...came at the cost of 2.2 regular jobs, and only one in 10 of the newly created green jobs became a permanent job."

In all areas of his presidency, Obama has demonstrated a striking disregard of facts, lack of good reasoning, and inability to function at an executive level, all at the core of the textbook definition of intelligence derived from more than a half century of research. Intelligence, the experts tell us, comes down to understanding the meaning of the world around us, and then using that understanding to live skillfully and appropriately (i.e., to get stuff done). One survey of more than fifty researchers in the field of intelligence offers the following definition:

A very special mental capability that, among other things, involves the ability to reason, plan, solve problems, think abstractly, comprehend complex ideas, learn quickly and learn from experience. It is not merely book learning, a narrow academic skill, or test-taking smarts. Rather, it reflects a broader and deeper capability for comprehending our surroundings---"catching on", "making sense" of things, or "figuring out" what to do.

Obama is Buchanan-esque in his inability to function as an executive, a key part of intelligence. Even a cursory analysis of history shows that limited government and free markets have produced prosperity; so Obama expands government and takes over private businesses, causing one observer to throw up his hands at another Buchanan moment from Obama and exclaim, "It isn't rocket science, Mr. President!" Hands-on executives and laser focus are business school basics for solving problems; so Obama parties rather than roll up his sleeves, unleashes federal regulators on hapless Gulf state residents rather than cutting through the red tape, and appoints study panels even as the oil washes ashore (e.g., see video timeline). Radical Islamists are waging war against the United States; Obama does a full Buchanan -- or, if you will, an Alfred E. Newman-style "What, me worry?" -- and, denying the existence of Islamic terrorism, asks whom are you going to believe -- me or your lying eyes?

The ability to draw reasonable conclusions from everyday life and then use those conclusions to adapt is fundamental to high intelligence, says cognitive psychologist Robert J. Steinberg, the award-winning Tufts University dean and University of Cambridge fellow. In other words, the scientific community has established good reasoning, learning from past experience, and acting according to those experiences as integral to high intelligence.

It does not include, as David Brooks, tells us, having an exceptional and "perfectly creased pant [leg]" or -- in what Hot Air's Allahpundit calls "a loathsome expression of elitism" -- being able to "talk like us," Brooks, and others of the "smart set." If that were the case, all we would need to increase intelligence in the U.S. Congress is to provide our elected representatives with dry cleaning services. As for the "talk like us" part, it doesn't take intelligence to talk like a self-styled intellectual, a.k.a. a New York Times columnist. Hawkeye Pearce has already shown us the way in the classic "Love Story" episode of television's "Mash." He teaches Radar, the shy Iowa farm boy who has a crush on a nurse who reads the classics and enjoys Bach, to reply with, eyebrows uplifted, "Ahhh...Bach" when she discusses music and throw in the occasional "That's highly significant."

Want to impress David Brooks and others of the media engaging in what Bernard Goldberg calls "a slobbering love affair" with the president? Simple. Reply, as Obama has done, "Ahhh...Burke" to David Brooks, enthralled by a president who expressed appreciation for the "finer points" of political philosophy; or flash your degree to Christopher Buckley, formerly of National Review, awestruck by Obama's "Harvard intellect"; or simply present Marxism and mainline elegance as typical of the academic life, and media academics like Michael Beschloss will gush on mainstream news, "he's probably the smartest guy ever to become President."

But intelligence is as intelligence does, as Forest Gump might remind us. Harvard has produced more than its share of great men and women, but it has also produced the Unabomber, Barney Frank, and Enron CEO Jeffrey Skilling...and now, the next James Buchanan.

So the next time Brooks or others in the mainstream media firmament tell you that Barack Obama is a towering intellect, the smartest president ever, just nod your head wisely and say, "Ahhh...pant leg."

Stuart Schwartz, a former retail and media executive, is on the faculty at Liberty University in Lynchburg, Virginia.

[Paperdoll]

When are people going to wake up to the fact that Obama is skillfully doing exactly what he said he would do, change America (from a strong free and prosperous nation, under God, with small government; to change the served, into the servant.) He is ignoring the rule of law, thumbing his nose at the Constitution, and soon to take over the lives of us one and all.
Of course the less the people know, the easier to enslave.
So the only dumb ones among us are those who refuse to see the truth.

[Guyin4Os]

Nice piece. I wish it were true. 0bama isn’t dumb. He is highly intelligent. He INTENDS the results he is getting. He wants to do to the US what has been done in other Marxist countries, take from the rich and make everyone poor. He isn’t dumb. He is diabolical.

[rockrr]

I’ve all but given up on Medved. It isn’t so much his insistence on attributing “brilliance” to Øbozo as it is his insulting and browbeating of anyone who disagrees. Medved all but says that we aren’t smart enough to listen to his show.

My challenge to the Medved’s of the world: Is Øbozo stupid - or is he evil? He has to be one or the other and there is no other choice.

[nascarnation]

Baraq’s supporters and the MSM claimed he was a genius.

Of course all his school transcripts, SATs, GREs, and LSATs are in a lockbox.

With his monster ego, if they were any good they’d be framed and posted in the White House press room.

[skyman]

He’s so brillant that he makes his opposition think he’s really dumb /s

[jazminerose]

He could always liberate his academic records to prove his smartness.

[jazminerose]

It’s not really an either/or situation. You can be an idiot and destructive at the same time. I offer as Exhibit A: Nancy Pelosi.

[Digger]

I don't think he is the dumbest he know exactly what he is doing and he is doing it as fast as he can..He works for devils and they think they will win..They won't..

True but look at the mess they leave behind. Like McDougal said of the Klintoons - they leave a tornado of destruction behind as they always are moving forward. You must kill the cancer in it's early stages or it will kill you.

[DontTreadOnMe2009]

Has everyone forgotten?

Only he knew that 10,000 people were killed

“right near here, in a tornado” !!!!!!!!!!

[cameraeye]

....a piece of paper out of your front pocket.

[DontTreadOnMe2009]

Dr. John Drew, who met him at Occidental and knew him well said that he is ““He [Obama] was arguing a straightforward Marxist-Leninist class-struggle point of view, which anticipated that there would be a revolution of the working class, led by revolutionaries, who would overthrow the capitalist system and institute a new socialist government that would redistribute the wealth,” says Drew, who says he himself was then a Marxist.

[bassmaner]

Did Mrs. Buchanan wear butt-ugly outfits with boob-belts?

Actually, there was no Mrs. Buchanan: James was a single man, with gay rumors abounding.

I wonder who his 'Larry Sinclair' was .....

[caver]

I like that! The OJ jury.

[Chief901]

Dumb as Barak “Hoover” Obama.

[SeekAndFind]

RE: Dr. John Drew

Hmmm... who is Dr. Drew and what is the link/source/book/article for this quote.

It is quite interesting that a lot of the Democratic leaders and would be Presidents and even Supreme Court Justices have been schooled in Marxist doctrine ( even writing their thesis on Marxism ).

Hillary I heard wrote her bachelor’s graduation on Saul Alinsky. She and her Presidential opponent Obama seem to be disciples of the same guru and are probably bent on implementing his rules.

[Ronbo1948]

“QUIET COMRADE! Let the running dog Imperialist FReepers think Comrade Obama is stupid! This is party directive 101, btw. Also, don’t tell them about the reactionary website “New Zeal” where all Comrade Obama’s secrets and plans are exposed.”

[ThePatriotsFlag]

I have no idea how smart he is. He 'reads' everything, other people write for him, (books, speeches, etc). So he's being "run" by something or somebody else. I mean, really, who writes a 30,000 page health care bill? He surely doesn't. So all he does is "look good" ... make speeches, etc. He, himself, doesn't DO anything. So there's not way to compare him to anything else, he's still a "blank screen, upon which you can project anything you want".

But I believe, and always will, that the "puppet master" behind all this is far from "dumb or stupid". This thing has been planned since Bill Ayers "fizzled" an attack on the Pentagon. That didn't work, so "they" decided to infiltrate rather than fight from the outside. (Not too different than the Muslims do to take over a country ... ah, uh ... maybe same crowd?). But whoever or whatever it it is is SMARTER than we are because THEY are winning and WE are losing.

So the comparison is not between this president and an historical one ... but a comparison of "Them" vs "US" ... and right now, THEY are smarter.

(Very well written piece, by the way).

[madamemayhem]

vice president to Pierce, William Rufus King. they first met in congress and were basically inseparable after. they wound up with the nicknames “Miss Nancy and Aunt Fancy”, and “Mr. Buchanan and his wife”.

[Bernard Marx]

He isn’t dumb. He is diabolical.

Just so. He's evil, to put it plainly. When the world socialist combine behind him pulls his strings his mouth moves.

The worst part of this travesty is that he's succeeding through ugly old-fashioned racism. The civil rights cause as enunciated by MLK was a noble thing. Obama has perverted it into a low, cynical political battering ram.

[DefeatCorruption]

... 0bama isn't dumb. He is highly intelligent.... ******************************************************** I would like to know about ONE SMART thing obuma has done. He reads speeches from a teleprompter that someone else has written and takes orders from a higher power (NOT GOD). He displays no concept or connection with reality..he exhibits not a trace of common sense. Oh yes, we have been TOLD continually that this president (barf) is intelligent and I guess if its repeated often enough people begin to believe it must be true. Hogwash!