Let's not over-value "intelligence" (or articulation) in a President.
After all, aren't those traits exactly what Obama was believed to bring to the job?
And how do we measure "intelligence"? By now, haven't we discovered that the university and the degree have nothing to do with it? It is, after all, Ivy League graduates who have created most of the problems we confront today.
In selecting a presidential candidate, I'd submit that the most important single qualification is character. Will they be honest with us? Can we trust this person to do the right thing? Can we confidently charge this person with the primary responsibility for national security? Will they respect and honor the Constitution?
Certainly, some level of smarts are required. Joe Biden, for example, isn't up to the job. But it needn't be an extraordinary IQ. Instead, an extraordinary helping of common sense would be highly desirable.
Principled character plus common-sense policies should be the guiding criteria for selecting a President.
INtelligence to me, is the ability to think clearly on your feet and articulate without always being scripted. It usually follows that people have the ability speak clearly usually are able to win friends and influence people.
AND YES, Character....We tend to take all these things for granted when we look at politicians....
What has opened my eyes more than ANYTHING else since coming on board FR, and listening more and more to conservative talk shows, and reading....is that our elected officials are a dissapointment. I respect and admire very few from either party, but virtually NONE from the democrats.
TErm limits would do more to once and for all make our elected officials accountable to the people instead of their party first, then the people.
It’s like when you work for a company. Where is your first loyalty, the company or the union?
And by ANY measure...Obama and Biden are not intelligent people in my book.
IF you look at the younger REagan, the man who spoke at the REpublican convention in 64 and again when he challenged Gerald Ford, there was a man with true intelligence.
I think Nixon was intelligent, Kennedy too. From what I’ve read of Truman and Eisenhower also. Lincoln the gold standard....
This president is no Jackie Robinson, a man who had a similar opportunity in life as Obama, and that being to unite than to divide.
Obama is the biggest disappointment as a president in my lifetime. Much worse than CArter...and we still have two years to go.