Intelligence in Politics

I am sure I have written about this in the past, I want to add some new thoughts. With Michelle Bachman and Rick Perry in the running for the Republican presidential nomination, there is talk again about whether those two are smart enough to be president. Republicans often bristle at this and I think often misunderstand what is meant.

First, let me say that I agree that a president needs to be smart as a minimum qualification. But that isn't at all based on education. And the best way to illustrate this is to look at some examples. George W. Bush was educated at private high school and ivy league undergrad and business school (Exeter, Yale, and Harvard, respectively). But I would not consider him smart and often felt that he wasn't up to the job intelligence-wise.

Compare that to someone like Karl Rove, whom I do not like at all, but I would consider pretty smart. But Rove does not have a college degree. As you can see, that doesn't matter to me in terms of assessing his intelligence.

Much was made of Sarah Palin's peripatetic college history. Someone with her history could still be very smart. However it was used as another piece of evidence of her lack of intelligence - something people could tell based on how she answered questions.

The point is that many Republicans are very smart: John McCain (last in his class at Naval Academy but I don't hold that against him), John Boehner, New Gingrich (though he is accused of having an undisciplined mind), Mitt Romney, Mike Huckabee, John Huntsman, Tim Pawlenty, Bobby Jindal, Mitch McConnell. The problem many liberals have is with the few that squeak by that don't seem to be very smart. George W. Bush, Rick Perry (maybe less so), Michelle Bachmann, and Sarah Palin are the ones that come to mind that I would consider not up to the task.

To be clear, intelligence should be necessary, but not sufficient. John Kerry went to Harvard and is very smart. But I would say he might not have made the best president. And as smart as Obama is, he is not doing as well as many had hoped.

One last thing: I am realizing how Sarah Palin has set the bar lower in terms of intelligence. With her at one point considered a very strong contender for the nomination had she entered, I think we witnessed a new low (even Ann Coulter seems to admit that Palin isn't smart enough). And since she hasn't run, I feel so relived and am now more inclined to view Bachmann, Perry, and even Bush as smart enough since they are smarter than Palin. I don't think that is a good thing.