Obama and the War on Brains

[ProSense]

Op-Ed Columnist

Obama and the War on Brains

By NICHOLAS D. KRISTOF
Published: November 9, 2008

Barack Obama’s election is a milestone in more than his pigmentation. The second most remarkable thing about his election is that American voters have just picked a president who is an open, out-of-the-closet, practicing intellectual.

Maybe, just maybe, the result will be a step away from the anti-intellectualism that has long been a strain in American life. Smart and educated leadership is no panacea, but we’ve seen recently that the converse — a White House that scorns expertise and shrugs at nuance — doesn’t get very far either.

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As for President Bush, he adopted anti-intellectualism as administration policy, repeatedly rejecting expertise (from Middle East experts, climate scientists and reproductive health specialists). Mr. Bush is smart in the sense of remembering facts and faces, yet I can’t think of anybody I’ve ever interviewed who appeared so uninterested in ideas.

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Granted, Mr. Obama may have been protected from accusations of excessive intelligence by his race. That distracted everyone, and as a black man he didn’t fit the stereotype of a pointy-head ivory tower elitist. But it may also be that President Bush has discredited superficiality.

An intellectual is a person interested in ideas and comfortable with complexity. Intellectuals read the classics, even when no one is looking, because they appreciate the lessons of Sophocles and Shakespeare that the world abounds in uncertainties and contradictions, and — President Bush, lend me your ears — that leaders self-destruct when they become too rigid and too intoxicated with the fumes of moral clarity.

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Mr. Obama, unlike most politicians near a microphone, exults in complexity. He doesn’t condescend or oversimplify nearly as much as politicians often do, and he speaks in paragraphs rather than sound bites. Global Language Monitor, which follows linguistic issues, reports that in the final debate, Mr. Obama spoke at a ninth-grade reading level, while John McCain spoke at a seventh-grade level.

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[BrklynLiberal]

1. Brains in the White House!! What a concept...

[truedelphi]

2. The only regret I have is in knowing that the days of

"Great Moments in Presidential Speeches" on Letterman will probably be a distant memory soon.

Having my country back is well worth the tarde off. And Letterman can always release a collection of the "Moments" in a DVD form.

[Captain Hilts]

3. This anti-intellectualism isn't new, actually. FDR - and Eleanor -

were both trained by Louis Howe NOT to act like the smartest guy in the room all the time because it pissed off people.

For this reason, a lot of folks, naively, came away from meeting them not realizing the full mental firepower they were dealing with. FDR realized it flattered people and ER was trained - being female and all - not to act like a smart guy. It's interesting, I was talking to a woman here in a DC Barnes and Noble last week who told me her dad worked for Averill Harriman and how her dad was really shocked by how hugely intelligent Eleanor Roosevelt was in meetings.

[ProSense]

4. It may not be new, and the article made that point, but

there is a vast difference between intentionally dumbing down one's speech and actually being dumb.

[Captain Hilts]

5. I think the WORST crime of Bush is his total lack of curiosity and I was glad to see ...

Kristoff point that out. It's Bush's worst crime.

[ProSense]

7. The GOP tried to saddle the country with another Bush in Palin.

Someone pointed out that one could argue that she's unqualified or that she's an airhead, but no one can dispute that up until her selection by McCain, she showed no interest in what was happening on the national or international stage. It's why they were giving her crash courses.

[Captain Hilts]

8. She's like Bush, only worse. nt

[av8rdave]

6. Back when the McSame people were trying to play the "elitist" card...

I mentioned in a discussion with a Republican friend that if "elitist" means well educated and intelligent, then I want an elitist in the White House!

[ProSense]

9. As Jon Stewart said:

I want a President who's smarter than me. (paraphrase)