Obama: Not exactly the smartest man in the room

[Crux]

 

"Obama's public life, as we know it, has followed one deeply etched pattern that allows for only [one] mode of conduct. It is a true expression of who he is - at heart, a deeply conventional person who has learned how to profit from his exceptionality. A creature of his times, the embodiment of generation 'X' that came of age during the Reagan era and inhaled its mixture of sanctimony and selfishness."

-- Michael Brenner: "November 2 -- For Whom the Bell Tolls"

[billcoe]

Obama: Not exactly the smartest man in the room

He'd be the smartest guy in a room full of us dudes. Unless Jayb was there.

[billcoe]

But dudes point is:

 

"Obama was not the smartest man in the room when he swallowed whole the Rubin-Bernanke-Summers line that restoring financial supremacy to the biggest players on Wall Street was tantamount to restoring financial stability and the absolute precondition for economic recovery. He wasn't the smartest guy in the room when he declared that Lloyd Blankfein and Jaime Damon were 'very savvy businessman' who deserved every dollar they took; when he reneged on his pledge to push legislation that would have restored to home owners the right to renegotiate mortgages in bankruptcy court; when he cast Paul Volcker into the outer orbit of his administration. He was not the smartest guy in the room when just last week he dismissed massive bank foreclosure fraud as "honest mistakes and errors."

 

Obama was not the smartest man in the room when he made a secret pact with the health insurers to kill the public option as their price for acquiescing in a deal that saw their stock prices spike; when he struck another shadowy deal with Big Pharma to kill proposals to allow the government to bargain over drug prices; when he made health reform hostage to the bipartisan 'gang of six' conservative Senators from the boondocks led by Max Baucus, the bought agent for the health care industry. He wasn't the smartest person in the room when he pursued the same futile strategy on finance reform by sponsoring the mixed marriage of Senators Dodd and Coburn. Obama wasn't the smartest guy in the room when he appointed a Presidential Commission on Social Security stocked with devotees to the 'cut-it-back' cult - this after trying to sneak through Congress a bill that would have compelled the legislature to vote up or down the whole package of its predictable recommendations. He was not the smartest guy in the room when he took a hands-off attitude toward the BP oil spoil.

 

Obama was not the smartest person in the room when he convinced himself that a firm commitment to escalation in Afghanistan was a stepping stone to the White House. He wasn't the smartest guy in the room when he allowed Secretary Gates and General Petraeus to sell him their pie-in-the-sky scheme for victory in Afghanistan; when he tried to square circles by linking an increase in troops to a fixed deadline to begin withdrawal; when he fostered the illusion that we could dictate our terms to Karzai and Kayani.

 

Obama was not the smartest person in the room when he dispatched Robert Gibbs to publicly insult in vulgar language the people who elected him. He surely wasn't the smartest guy in the room when he sought out the smug, foul-mouthed Rahm Emanuel to be his trusted White House lieutenant; Rahm Emmanuel the consigliore cum hustler whose machinations spawned those politically suicidal actions; Rahm Emanuel the designated 'fixer' who did more to break the Obama presidency than anyone save the President himself. Nor was Obama the smartest guy in the room when he shunned his electoral network of grass roots -- and young -- activists while cultivating all the Washington power brokers against whom he'd run."

 

It's much easier to be a whiny bitchy complainer, like lots of folks on this site, than offer up a vision and truth moving forward. Brenner, like many people here, probably confuses that with intelligence.

[j_b]

I don't see any evidence that Obama didn't want to achieve all that his administration did. Democrats have campaigned on the left and governed on the right at least since Carter. It's not due to an error or a lack of intelligence. Just watch them telling us they got punked in the mid-terms because they were too far left in the first 2 years (even though it was the exact opposite) and that now they have to move to the "center". Watch what they do, not what they say.

[j_b]

Obama: Not exactly the smartest man in the room

He'd be the smartest guy in a room full of us dudes. Unless Jayb was there.

 

It takes a special dunce to sing the praises of snake oil merchants.

[Nitrox]

What do you mean there is no such thing as "shovel ready"?

 

Obama is at least smarter than the people who voted for him.

 

 

[j_b]

If Obama voters aren''t smart, what does it say of McCain-Palin voters?

[prole]

 

Glad you asked!

 

[video:youtube]

[Nitrox]

If Obama voters aren''t smart, what does it say of McCain-Palin voters?

 

 

The American public is a bunch of Rubes. Both choices represented everything wrong with this country.

 

 

[Stefan]

another article about another broad generalization about another president

 

these people make money by clicks to their article, or by ratings in television or media

[ivan]

for sake of argument then, who is?

[prole]

If Obama voters aren''t smart, what does it say of McCain-Palin voters?

 

The American public is a bunch of Rubes. Both choices represented everything wrong with this country.

 

The question is, which one did you vote for?

[tvashtarkatena]

Obama: Not exactly the smartest man in the room

He'd be the smartest guy in a room full of us dudes. Unless Jayb was there.

 

There's one spotlight you'll never need to worry about sweating under.

[LUCKY]

Yeah!!! Bush was such an Intellectual see where that got you!!! some where they are missing the village idiot!!! but I like see the right and left fight it's best for the rest of us!

[ZimZam]

but I like see the right and left fight it's best for the rest of us!

i'd rather just see them burst into flames. It would be fun for the rest of us.

[denalidave]

for sake of argument then, who is?

Trashie, DUH!

[summitchaserCJB]

dgsrtgswtwe4

[ivan]

for sake of argument then, who is?

Trashie, DUH!

you might be able to beat him any day you hadn't had a dozen beers or so there dave! course....uh....ya'll might have to coordinate schedules or something...