In a nutshell, here's what's wrong with this country

[nyhuskyfan]

Not that it's a top qualification for president, but Obama and his supporters have been unable to tout his position of President of the Harvard Law Review, because it won't sell with Americans. Seems too intellectually elite. Or the fact that he taught law at one of the 10 top universities in the country.

I want to know my leaders are smarter than me. A ticket with a guy who graduated 894 out of 899 out of the Naval Academy and a graduate of North Idaho Junior College (followed by four semesters at the University of Idaho) just doesn't cut it for me. But our side could never use this, because it would backfire.

It's what I call "Nerd Syndrome". Americans grow up in a culture where its socially okay, and even encouraged, to resent the smart kids and put down their accomplishments. And we are left picking leaders based on who we'd want to have a beer with.

[crispini]

1. Damn right.

How do we fix it?

[jakem]

2. North Idaho Junior College?! WTF?

Did she not get into University of Idaho as a freshman?!

I am all for community college, but this is ridiculous.

[nyhuskyfan]

4. Nope

She went to Hawaii Pacific first, left, got her associate's from North Idaho College (it's a two-year school, but doesn't actually have 'Junior' in the name), then was at Idaho for four semesters to get a degree in journalism.

[madaboutharry]

5. Wow. That is a bit troubling.

Where is this information? I would like to see it verified that she did not go directly to a four year college.

Look, there are all kinds of people in the world and I do think that no person is better than the next. But I find it disturbing that this woman simply does not have the intellect.

[nyhuskyfan]

6. Here you go

http://www.adn.com/news/alaska/ap_alaska/story/510243.html

[Boz]

3. And now we re running against the wanna be quarter back and the cheerleader.

[Ganja Ninja]

7. Yup.

Every time I hear "She has as much experience as Obama does." I think 'but his education level is way higher'. It's as if a higher level of education is a negative instead of a positive.

[EstimatedProphet]

13. Only in a reverse world does she have as much experience

US Senator outranks less than half a term as governor of the 47th populous state. the idea that they are equivalent is like saying we should arm our soldiers with rubber band guns, and playing the game Operation counts as surgical experience.

[nyhuskyfan]

14. Plus

They are comparing Obama's first job in his 20's (community organizer) with what Palin did in her 30's (small town mayor). The appropriate comparison would be community organizer to sportscaster.

But I don't think anyone should be attacked over their first jobs. We all have to start somewhere near the bottom (Bush family excluded). If the CEO of a Fortune 500 company started out running a small hardware store in his 20's, it doesn't mean he can't handle the job.

[HereSince1628]

8. True, but this is sort of how the chemistry works for them...

The uneducated working class wants canned answers and black and white statements about right and wrong and they expect authority figures to provide it.
The GOP elite ruling class wants to be authoritarian, wants to provide their black and white canned answers and demands people loyally follow them.

Which ever end of the GOP you are in, this combination of expectations works great.

All the democrats have going for them is people who respect knowledge and careful reasoning. That's by and large the middle class and working class people aspiring to the middle class. And that is why the GOP is at war with the middle class.

[BeyondGeography]

9. It's also the flipside of egalitarianism; everyone's told they're as good as everyone else

whereas, in point of fact, civilized nations have always depended on elites to govern. This blowhardism is indeed what made Bush possible, and is why we are forced to take an intellectual non-entity like Sarah Palin seriously.

Democrats have gone wrong when they've sneered at these people and dismissed them. I don't think we make that mistake anymore.

[Bread and Circus]

10. I think you are right of people 30 and over, nerds were to kicked and made fun of...

however, I think due to the dawn of the digital media age, nerd-dom is actually held in high esteem in certain ways amongst the young. We grew up with cabbage patch kids, cowboys, Indians, and howdy doody, our kids and grandkids are growing up with Webkinz, Pokemon, World of Warcraft, myspace, facebook, youtube, torrents, mp3 players, and Zelda. There is a slight cultural shift since the advent of the internet.

[nyhuskyfan]

12. That's a fair point

They still don't have pep rallies for Zelda, but any progress in this regard would be sorely welcomed. I've never understood it - good athletes are applauded (nothing wrong with that), good musicians are applauded (nothing wrong with that either), why should a good student be ridiculed?

In many third world nations, a well educated person is revered. Makes you wonder what part of the world is truly backwards.

[AspenRose]

11. The dumbing down of America is almost complete.