An Egghead for the Oval Office

[cal04]

Al Gore has been in town launching his new book, "The Assault on Reason," and you could have predicted the buzz: Is he about to jump into the race? What you probably wouldn't have predicted is the counter-buzz that Gore, poor fellow, is just too ostentatiously smart to be elected president.

In the book, you see, Gore betrays familiarity with history, economics, even science. He uses big words, often several in the same sentence. And in public appearances he doesn't even try to disguise his erudition. These supposedly are glaring shortcomings that should keep Gore on the sidelines, rereading Gibbon and exchanging ideas about the structure of the cosmos with Stephen Hawking.

Leave aside the question of whether Gore is even thinking about another presidential run, or how he would stack up against the other candidates. I'm making a more general point: One thing that should be clear to anyone who's been paying attention these past few years is that we need to go out and get ourselves the smartest president we can find. We need a brainiac president, a regular Mister or Miss Smarty-Pants. We need to elect the kid you hated in high school, the teacher's pet with perfect grades.

When I look at what the next president will have to deal with, I don't see much that can be solved with just a winning smile, a firm handshake and a ton of resolve. I see conundrums, dilemmas, quandaries, impasses, gnarly thickets of fateful possibility with no obvious way out. Iraq is the obvious place he or she will have to start; I want a president smart enough to figure out how to minimize the damage.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/05/31/AR2007053101851.html

[Hekate]

1. KnR. I had the same thoughts: Too smart for the Average Joe, but oh how we need a smart one now.

Al Gore, to be sure -- I love the guy, but he's very pedantic, professorial. God how I wish we had a better-informed citizenry -- people who could respect that!

Then there's General Wes Clark. And Barack Obama. And, yes, Hillary Clinton. All extremely bright people.

We have cause to hope.

Hekate

[Bread and Circus]

2. awesome oped article. great stuff.

[badgerpup]

3. You mean you WOULDN'T want to have a beer with Al Gore?

I'm sorry.
Dana Milbank's column pissed me off royally yesterday. :grr:

I don't need to 'feel superior' to my President, I've got nothing to prove.

I want to know that that the person in charge of running the FUBAR clusterfuck this country has become IS smarter than I am, because I make errors in judgement all the time...only they don't affect the lives of up to millions of people. The errors the President makes can, and do.

I want a President I can respect and trust, not one to whom I can feel superior.
And FWIW- I'd rather have a drink with an intelligent person any day.
Conversation is much more interesting once the grain or grape loosens the tongue...

:rant:

[kimmylavin]

14. I never got that...

I'd really rather NOT have a beer with a recovering alcoholic! :)

[badgerpup]

15. Azackly!

That kinda puzzled me too...:banghead:

What's that saying..."One is too many, and ten* isn't enough"?

* or some number indicating waaaay over the limit....

[Dollface]

22. I would love to have a beer with Mr. Gore.

But I can honestly say that I've never wanted to have a beer with George Dufus. I went to school with that idiot (well, his intellectual and moral twin anyway... ). Didn't want to drink with him then either.

[rudy23]

4. America likes to vote for the opposite of the last president

Maybe with Reagan-Bush an exception. I've heard it said that after Clinton, America wanted to vote for a guy who was in bed by 10:00 with his wife every night (little did anyone know).

I feel like after *, America will be much more enamored with an egghead president than in years past.

[SuperSloMo]

5. But Bush thinks with his gut!!!

Isn't that cool?? I never did understand what the supposed advantage was of having a president who "thinks with his gut", especially in the world after 9/11. People who think with their gut ignore important details, lash out and make a ham-fisted mess of things. I think it would be great to have our next president be one who thinks with his brain.

[NMDemDist2]

6. welcome to DU tmoleary!

:hi:

You may find our handy DU Glossary to be entertaining and helpful to understand many of the 'inside' jokes around here.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_oet&address=358x190

[Mabus]

9. and one that listens to people with differing perspectives, opinions & can think outside the box

Now that would be refreshing.

:hi: Welcome to DU.

[ninkasi]

7. I WANT an intelligent president

These past several years, with a moron as president, more than anything, I want a president who is intelligent. I am still baffled by the 2000 and 2004 presidential elections. Apparently, people are so shallow that they will vote for a guy who has no curiosity, no intelligence, and who has a clearly sociopathic personality.

The person I want in office, man or woman, doesn't need to have a personality that makes him/her a kind of rock star. I just want someone intelligent enough, and honest enough, to get our country back on tracks. Bush, or any of the other neocons can't do this.

I truly hope that our next president is light years more intelligent than me. I will vote for, and support, a candidate who does not think that farting in front of young aides is funny. I want an adult, and Dubya clearly isn't one. I'm no genius, by any means, but I want someone smarter than me as president.

[RedEarth]

8. Would love to see a Gore/Obama ticket

[rosesaylavee]

10. Eugene hits it right on the nail...

"I want the next president to be intellectually curious -- and also intellectually honest. I want him or her to understand the details, not just the big picture. I won't complain if the next president occasionally uses a word I have to look up.

...

I don't want the candidates to pretend to be average people, because why would we choose an ordinary person for such an extraordinary job? I want to see what they've got -- how much they know, how readily they absorb new information, how effectively they analyze problems and evaluate solutions. If the next president is almost always the smartest person in the room, I won't mind a bit. After all, we're not in high school anymore."

******************************************
You know, I think there are many people out there who have never gotten over high school or are emotionally stuck there. We don't just need a smart citizenry, we need an emotionally smart citizenry, individuals who can vote for someone who is smarter than them and not feel intimidated by that.

edit: misplaced quotation marks.

[DeeDeeNY]

11. You make too much sense

In 2000, voters complained that Gore was "stiff", and in 2004 they said Kerry was "boring", or they didn't like their wives, totally ignoring what was important. The elections have become too much of a popularity contest. It is positively scary how uninformed people are about candidates, and about what qualities make a good president.

[MasonJar]

12. Great article! Let's all post a response for Robinson. Much of the

future is in our hands. We need to speak out in big numbers pro and con the articles we like and dislike. On the subject of the editorial. I am an English teacher and I am savoring every syllable in Gore's book; it is enlightening and educational. I love finding out what great men in the past have said and thought. Gore is one of them...the great men. By the way, to answer W's question, "Is our children learning?" I'd have to say, not with his and Neil's "No Child Left Behind" doctrine. And I'd like to ask back, "Where were you, W, when at Andover and Yale and Harvard, the faculty was teaching minimal grammar?"

[JPZenger]

13. We Need to Elect a President with experience on the world stage

We need a president who can restore good relations with the rest of the world. That is the real way to fight terrorism -- through trust and international cooperation, not ordering marines to drive into explosives.

We need a president who has experience on the world stage, who is familiar to some world leaders and truly has a diplomatic approach. That leaves two candidates - Gore or Richardson.

[RamboLiberal]

16. Eugene Robinson is reading my mind

I've been listening to Gore's book on CD - pisses me off that the damn Scotus denied us having this brilliant man as president.

And it pisses me off to remember right after 9-11 the idiot RW pundits saying aren't you glad Bush is president!

[Grandrose]

17. After 6 years of scrambled eggs.....

hopefully the American people will appreciate that substance over style is more important than a good ole boy and his gut feelings!

I would not count on it though. America has not hit rock bottom enough for an epiphany!

:think: :kick:

[meow2u3]

18. I'd rather have an "egghead" than an empty head for President

The empty-headed, or should I say, empty-souled, neocons are who got this country in the trouble because of their deliberate ignorance and arrogance.

[DesertRat]

19. I couldn't agree more. We need someone brilliant.

Al Gore fits the bill. :bounce:

[Prophet 451]

20. I'm reminded of Bill Maher...

...talking about the French election: "And if they know about a character in a book other than Jesus, it's not a drawback".

Gore's my second choice (after Kucinich) but it would be nice to see a president who actually was "best and brightest".

[Uncle Joe]

21. I not only want the smartest, I want the wisest, I want Al Gore. n/t