David Broder: Good Time For a Brainy President

[babylonsister]

Good Time For a Brainy President

By David S. Broder
Thursday, November 27, 2008; Page A29


When I started covering the White House more than 50 years ago, I believed that the smarter a president was, the better he would be. That was wrong.

Lyndon Johnson and Ronald Reagan were certainly not intellectuals, but they understood the power of the presidency and they knew how to impose their agendas on their political partners and rivals.

By contrast, Jimmy Carter was a whiz at policy analysis and Bill Clinton grasped the connections among issues almost intuitively. Yet neither of them left the White House with a record of great achievements.

So for several years, I have been arguing that there are traits much more important to the success of a president than brainpower. Self-confidence, curiosity, an eye for talent, the ability to communicate, a temperament that invites collaboration -- all these and more rank higher on the list of desirable presidential traits.

I am not ready to abandon that view. But I am struck by how lucky this country is, at the moment, that the president-elect is a super-smart person like Barack Obama.

:wow:

more...

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/11/26/AR2008112603233.html?wpisrc=newsletter&wpisrc=newsletter&wpisrc=newsletter

[MarjorieG]

1. Gee, super smart, and with all the traits.

[tularetom]

2. Then on the other hand we've had presidents who peel bananas and fling their poo

Not naming any names but maybe that's what changed his mind?

[malik flavors]

3. Why so shocked? We know Obama is brilliant and Broder is an objective journalist..

[babylonsister]

4. Broder is objective? Do tell. nt

[grasswire]

5. Broder is not a journalist.

He is an opinion columnist. Like Richard Cohen and William Safire.

[TankLV]

6. Compared to thecurrent WAR CRIMINAL in Al Gore's house - my Golden Retriever is a genius!

No - compared to the current idiot, the spot on my Kitchen floor is brilliant...

[Hamlette]

7. when is it NOT a good time to have a super smart president?

I used to like Broder but he has been awful these last few years. It's like they don't hear themselves.

The column should be "we are reminded of why it is important to always have a smart president and how much better things would be now if we'd elected Adlai Stevenson low those many years ago"

[mwei924]

8. Hoover was really smart but he sucked at being President.

He was definitely smarter than FDR.

[CatWoman]

9. fuck David Broder

[KittyWampus]

10. WTF? Clinton didn't leave the WH with a record of achievements? He left us with a surplus

There are things Clinton did that piss me off and that led to currents woes, but he achieved economic stability.

[dsc]

11. but he got a blowjob

so he can't be credited with any accomplishment ever get with the program. First balanced budget since 1969, lowest unemployment rate in the history of the stat, greatest percentage of homeownership ever, lowest minority unemployment and on and on. None of it counts because he got a blowjob.