Who says that Obama is our smartest president ever?

[Nova Land]

In a thread about Barack Obama writing the wrong date in a guestbook, BeAChooser asserted that:

... we've been told over and over and over he's the smartest guy to ever sit in the Oval Office...

Ladewig replied by asking:

We have?

I am a liberal and I have never heard my liberal friends describe him in terms anywhere close to that. I have also never read a news story saying that.

If any respectable news source has said that, could you cite it?

I think that's a very good question. It's exactly the kind of question that people interested in applying skepticism to areas such as politics should be addressing.

Since lengthy discussion of whether Barack Obama has been called our smartest president ever, and by whom, would be off-topic for the strangely-titled thread in which it now resides, I'm starting this new thread in which that can be addressed.

There are actually 2 broad questions which are the intended topic of this thread.

The first is: who exactly is it who has said that Obama is 'the smartest guy to ever sit in the Oval Office'? (Is it one person, or many? Is it someone we've heard of? When and where did they say it?)

Going by past performance, I am guessing that BAC has not really heard people calling Barack Obama the smartest guy ever to sit in the Oval Office. I suspect what he has actually heard is people claiming that people are calling Barack Obama the smartest guy to ever sit in the Oval Office.

In the past, various right-wing humorists have referred to Barack Obama as "the Messiah" and "The Anointed One" -- part of a running gag in which they pretend that people on the left actually look upon and refer to Obama that way. A number of their listeners have actually fallen for the joke. My guess is that this is something similar.

So the second question I hope this thread can address is: where does the idea that people have been calling Barack Obama 'the smartest guy to ever sit in the Oval Office' actually come from? Are there really a significant number of people out there who are saying Barack Obama is our smartest president ever -- or is it instead that there are some people out there who are claiming this is being said a lot, and other people listening to them who are too gullible to bother checking the claim out?

 

[PGH]

The entire thing is just childish smear tactics and name calling. Never once have I heard a single person refer to Obama as the messiah except for right wing conservatives using it as a derogatory term. I don't think it's an attempt at right wing humor at all. I think it's an attempt to portray Obama's supporters as a cult of nuts.

It is basically nothing more than the grown up, right wing version of "If you love Obama so much why don't you marry him??"

 

[Thunder]

Originally Posted by BeAChooser
... we've been told over and over and over he's the smartest guy to ever sit in the Oval Office...


this is called a strawman argument.

 

[Nova Land]

The entire thing is just childish smear tactics and name calling.

It may well be. That's why I'd like to pin down whether there actually are numerous cases in which people have seriously called Barack Obama the smartest president ever (as BAC alleges) or whether this is indeed simply a right-wing meme used to attack Obama's supporters.

 

[DC]

well considering he is Kenian muslim communist and fooled most people in believing him to be a Christian democrat from the USA, no wonder BAC thinks he is very smart.

 

[Nova Land]

... we've been told over and over and over [Barack Obama's] the smartest guy to ever sit in the Oval Office.

this is called a strawman argument.

It may well be. Indeed, I'm inclined to agree I think that is what it will turn out to be when it is examined.

But this is a skeptical forum, so my main interest is in examining BAC's claim rather than simply dismissing it.

If there is any merit to BAC's assertion, then BAC (or others) should be able to provide examples in which people have seriously called Barack Obama the smartest president ever. If there is not merit to the assertion, then providing examples will be a bit more difficult.

Rather than fill up the thread with comments pre-judging the matter (providing fodder for replies which don't directly answer the question), I think it might make more sense to wait and let BAC or others who believe there are numerous examples of people saying this about Barack Obama to provide those examples. If they are not able to, then a short nearly empty thread will be easier for people to read and evaluate than a lengthy thread which boils down to nothing.

 

[TheAnachronism]

Much of what I'm finding through searching Google appears to be detractors of Obama attempting to negate this image of him as the "smartest president," but I can't find any sources seriously making the claim that he is the "smartest president."

For example, this blog tracks instances of Obama's gaffes (which isn't hard to do; every president has them).

On this blog, however, Michael Beschloss is quotes as saying, "Uh…..I would say it’s probably – he’s probably the smartest guy ever to become President."

 

[Nova Land]

Much of what I'm finding through searching Google appears to be detractors of Obama attempting to negate this image of him as the "smartest president," but I can't find any sources seriously making the claim that he is the "smartest president."

For example, this blog tracks instances of Obama's gaffes (which isn't hard to do; every president has them).

Thank you!

That's what I'm seeing as well. Googling Barack Obama smartest president ever turns up lots of hits, but they're almost all examples of people who don't think Obama is the smartest president ever and who are assuming (apparently without any more evidence than BAC) that Barack Obama's supporters think he is.

On this blog, however, Michael Beschloss is quoted as saying, "Uh…..I would say it’s probably – he’s probably the smartest guy ever to become President."

There's a glitch in your link; looks like you accidentally pasted in the quote rather than url. But using the quote you provided, it's easy to find a large number of sites providing that quote. (All of them appear to be right-wing sites blasting Beschloss and Obama in relation to what Beschloss said. I didn't see any left-wing sites using the quote in praise of Obama.)

The top site in the search list was Freedom's Wings. According to them, the quote is from an appearance Beschloss made on the Don Imus radio program November 10, 2008.

In the transcript Freedom's Wings provides, Beschloss is praising Obama for his intelligence. Imus presses Beschloss to say what Obama's IQ is. Beschloss doesn't know, flounders for a bit, and finally delivers the quoted line:

Imus: Well. What is his IQ?

Beschloss: … our system doesn’t allow those people to become President, those people meaning people THAT smart and THAT capable

Imus: What is his IQ?

Beschloss: Pardon?

Imus: What is his IQ?

Beschloss: Uh. I would say it’s probably – he’s probably the smartest guy ever to become President.

So, so far we have one example of one person who, two and a half years ago, said that Barack Obama was probably the smartest guy ever to become president.

Are there any more examples? Doesn't look like it.

BAC claimed to have heard it said "over and over" that Barack Obama is the smartest person ever to sit in the Oval Office. But that might simply mean that BAC has heard one quote repeated over and over by right-wing commentators hard-up for material to use.

BAC: you're the one who can clear this up most easily. Do you have any examples you'd like to provide of people saying Barack Obama is the smartest president ever?

 

[leftysergeant]

At best, most Obama supporters call him far brighter than most in living memory. I would say he about ties with FDR, falls far short of Jefferson (who doesn't?) and stands next to the Shrub as a blue-white star to a Zippo.

 

[bikerdruid]

.................... and [obama] stands next to the Shrub as a blue-white star to a Zippo.

....coffee spewed on my keyboard.

 

[Brainster]

I can certainly say that I don't think Obama is our smartest president ever.

If pressed, I'd say that John Quincy Adams was the smartest president followed closely by Jefferson.

 

[hgc]

I can certainly say that I don't think Obama is our smartest president ever.

If pressed, I'd say that John Quincy Adams was the smartest president followed closely by Jefferson.

I would have said Jefferson. What's to credit J.Q. Adams with the smarts?

ETA: This is pretty smart: "He took the oath of office on a book of laws, instead of the more traditional Bible, to preserve the separation of church and state." (wiki)

 

[Vorticity]

I would have said Jefferson. What's to credit J.Q. Adams with the smarts?

ETA: This is pretty smart: "He took the oath of office on a book of laws, instead of the more traditional Bible, to preserve the separation of church and state." (wiki)

Theodore Roosevelt also did not use a Bible.

Also: The only U.S. president to get into a knife fight with a cougar.

 

[psionl0]

I wouldn't say Obama is the brightest of presidents but his lucky star - that is shining brightly (Jimmy Carter must be green with envy).

 

[TubbaBlubba]

Many people think that Nixon was brilliant, yet certainly not fit for the presidential position.

So I don't see how it would matter that much in the first place. Intelligence is a great thing for a president, but there are other things than sheer genius required.

 

[Snide]

I can appreciate your effort, and I know it can be fun, but there's no need to single out and debunk a BAC strawman. It's the norm around here. In fact, not a strawman, but a flat out lie. Again, not an anomaly here.

 

[Travis]

Nixon was smart. So was Clinton. Coolidge was supposedly quite bright not that it did him any good.

I think the real issue here is that most people think Obama is much smarter than his predecessor and this drives Bush supporters nuts.

 

[Undesired Walrus]

Theodore Roosevelt also did not use a Bible.

Neither did Obama, kind of.

 

[Cleon]

Neither did Obama, kind of.

He swore on the Quran, didn't he?

 

[Undesired Walrus]

Written by the blood of Karl Marx.