For those of you who have just emerged from a three-year long coma or a round-trip to Mars, here is the context, from The New York Times (emphasis mine):
They are two of the smartest men of their generation, both magna cum laude products of Harvard Law School, both cerebral and charming and ambitious. They vaulted to the highest offices in the land after just short stints at the next level down, and each was seen initially as a conciliator only to lead on the strength of his own majority.One of the two is John Roberts, Chief Justice of the Supreme Court. A brilliant jurist with such a long history of legal accomplishment that even 22 Democrats voted for him, leaving only the emotionally and intellectually insecure Democrats in opposition.
The other is Barack Obama, whose major intellectual accomplishment consists of writing semi-fictional books about himself, and giving damn good speeches when reading from a teleprompter.
To include Obama in the twosome depends upon what the definition of "smartest man" and "generation" is.
If by "smartest man" one means "shameless self-promotional overachiever," and if by "generation" one means "politicians who achieve high office despite never having accomplished anything," then you've got your guy.
Is there a Nobel Prize for being one of the "smartest men in a generation"? He deserves it every bit as much as the Nobel Peace Prize.
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If by "smartest man" one means not showing up in Poland for the State funeral while the President of Russia is there offering Russian support.
ReplyDelete"...and giving damn good speeches when reading from a teleprompter."
ReplyDeleteOk, even though you can really get rid of the "giving damn good speeches when" segment of that sentence, you'd think he could write his own speeches, what with being one of the smartest men in a generation and all that.
"...shameless self-promotional overachiever..."
Overachiever? The media did his heavy lifting for his Precedency. Other than that, it's difficult to catalogue his achievements. How about "shameless self promoter"? Well no, he's obviously got the NYT and almost every other news outlet doing that for him too. How about just "shameless".
Well, let's examine BO's "legal" genius. Has he released his law school transcript or anything that he wrote as the "editor" or "president" of the Harvard Law Review? What about anything he wrote when he was a law school "lecturer"? Based on the few comments on "legal" issues that he's made (or which have been dug up and made public), and his propensity to confuse the Constitution with the Declaration of Independence (I know: details, details), any comparison of this pretender to Roberts, a truly brilliant and accomplished legal scholar, is a joke.
ReplyDeleteWhat in the world was Obama thinking when he only gave himself a B+ ?
ReplyDeleteBarack Obama is a puppet.
ReplyDeleteJohn Roberts is indeed an amazing thinker. I have read several of his opinions and cannot help but feel like my mind has been blown by the time I'm finished.
ReplyDeletewww.israelilawforum.blogspot.com
There are three (no make that 5) brilliant men and they are all on the Supreme Court. I am including Justice Anthony Kennedy in my remarks.
ReplyDeleteWithout a doubt Chief Justice John Roberts is brilliant. I am not sure I would use that term cerebral... it just sounds odd.
However, why leave out Antonin Scalia? He has a far better brain than Dr. Utopia.
Justice Clarence Thomas is also brilliant. He can say much in few words, and his appearance before that Congressional committee with so few words was very funny.
The affirmative opinions in the Citizens United case are very interesting. Justice Clarence Thomas made some very interesting points and I believe that his thought processes on these matters will bear fruit at a later date.
What amazed me about the affirmative opinions though was exactly how switched on are these Justices, especially Scalia and Roberts who wrote a joint opinion. By this I mean that they showed an awareness of the role of the Internet. The Citizens United decision is far reaching and it has nothing to do with big corporations with funding (or lack thereof). Rather they actually took into account the various forms of new media and the widespread use of the Internet when reaching their decision.
On the other hand, look at Dr. Utopia. Not only does he not know the difference between the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence, he did not know or understand the basics of the Citizens United case before shooting off his mouth about what the decision was supposed to have done - it does not allow foreign corporations to donate to parties, let alone to do anything else!! He also has shown himself to be a ditherer and incapable of giving a speech without the teleprompter unless he is talking about community organizing and Communism... after all he is a committed communist. Dr. Utopia shows little in the way of ability when it comes to something as important as economics.... and the list goes on and on.... Anyway, one day the fraud that he has committed will catch up with him........
@Robert, I am not a lawyer but I have studied Commercial Law. I read the Roberts opinion in the Citizens' United case and I agree, it was mind blowing.
ReplyDeleteI am still trying to get through the Stevens opinion and truly he is a party hack.... not very good and long winded.
Obowma smart? On what evidence is such a statement made?
ReplyDelete@Peter,
ReplyDeletelike you, I have seen absolutely nothing that will convince me that he is "smart". On the contrary his actions have shown him to be dumb. On top of that he has shown that he as absolutely no understanding of economics (and his economics advisers stink.
His sneering at the American population is nauseating. The hide of the man with his "they should be thanking me", which is a statement that is the equivalent of "let them eat cake".
The man does not even have the same smarts as Adolf Hitler and that is because he is an ideologue. He goes in one direction. He does not give a damn about anyone else, except of course our dear dumb blonde Kevvie or KRUDD as we know him here in Australia, whom Dr. U or Obowma thinks is humble like him....... hahahaha... KRUDD humble? What a joke... and ditto for the odor-sniffing Obowma.
For the left, progressive equals smart and conservative equals backwoods rube. Otherwise, there's no way to explain the silence the MSM treats everything that comes out of Nancy Pelosi's mouth while fixating on Sarah Palin. I'm actually kind of impressed they singled out Roberts. Of course the NY Times applauding your intelligence is sort of like Roger Corman complimenting your talent as a filmmaker. Big grain of salt. Paul Krugman's Nobel Prize in economics is frankly as laughable as Obama's.
ReplyDeleteHa! you mean this guy: http://www.pressdisplay.com/pressdisplay/showlink.aspx?bookmarkid=XXXUK4OT5LY7&preview=article&linkid=385ce164-1c61-417f-af16-51883666fa89&pdaffid=ZVFwBG5jk4Kvl9OaBJc5%2bg%3d%3d? Yeah, I too think that anyone this bloated does not deserve the awe of anyone, since as I see it, humility surpasses intellectual prowess.
ReplyDeleteAnyway, that's my schpeel.
Thank you for posting what many of us have felt for quite some time.
ReplyDeleteI have repeatedly asked for some independent, direct, quantifiable, non-empirical evidence of Obama's "intellectualism" and have yet to be provided any.
It is beyond irritating.