A Birthday Reflection on Mr. Obama
A great many of his supporters have made something of a fetish of lauding Barack Obama's supposed "intelligence" -- particularly (wink, wink) in comparison to his predecessor -- and asserting that this "intelligence" is one of his principal qualifications for office and one of his chief claims for public support. This view is not only confined to his left-leaning media fan club, but has permeated widely across at least one sizable (and swing-voting) segment of the electorate -- the better-educated professional/business class that tends to congregate in major-metro suburbs and the more affluent urban enclaves. These people are not part of Obama's natural "base" -- they tend to be moderates and independents. They've grown disenchanted with his policies, but they still largely cling to the belief that they should like him because he's -- well, so intelligent. And that's what a President should be, right?
Well, no. Leave aside for a moment the question of whether Mr. Obama's intelligence is really so considerable (the actual hard evidence is scanty and inconclusive) or just good marketing -- assume he is. The business/professional types who flocked to him in 2008 are the very first people who should know that the more senior you get in any organization -- and you don't get any more senior than POTUS -- what matters far more than "intelligence" is "judgment." When candidates are evaluated for entry- or junior-level "analyst" positions in the private sector, the bulk of weight is placed on how "smart" they are. When candidates are assessed for very senior positions, that question is secondary or tertiary -- if it even comes up at all. They're evaluated, instead, on "leadership," "character," and "judgment."
"Judgment" (like "intelligence") is an imprecise term, but I find it useful to think of "intelligence" as the ability to retain and process known facts, and of "judgment" as the process by which one reaches conclusions about things that are fundamentally unknown or not fully known. "Intelligence" recalls the name of the foreign minister of Uzbekistan or the GDP of Peru or the flow capacity of various trans-Caucasus pipelines. "Judgment" concludes that an Ahmadinejad will or will not respond to conciliation, or that the public will or will not like an ugly health care bill better once it's passed.
There are no shorthand "credentials," like Harvard or Yale, for judgment. The only test is the historical record of what one said and did, and what actually happened. Churchill belongs in the pantheon of greats because his judgments of Nazi Germany and of the British people's ultimate will to resist proved profoundly correct -- the majority of "intelligent" people in Britain in the 1930s did not share his judgment. In our own time, the judgment of Ronald Reagan, whose intellectual credentials were negligible, has to be considered exceptional. It was Reagan's judgment that freeing the economy from excessive taxation and regulation could reignite dynamism and growth after years of stagnation. It was Reagan's judgment that the Soviet colossus was in fact a rusted-out anachronism that could ultimately be defeated -- this at a time when the young Barack Obama was passionately supporting the "nuclear freeze," one of innumerable dumb ideas in history's ashheap.
Eighteen months is a rather short time over which to begin to assess Obama's judgment, but the early indications are that it falls way short of his intelligence, whatever that is. It has been Obama's judgment that conciliation and negotiation would defuse the threats from rogue states like Iran and North Korea. How's that working out? It has been Obama's judgment that soothing words and mea culpas would produce warmer, more productive relations with the Islamic world and defuse tensions in the Middle East. Right. It has been Obama's judgment that a huge step backwards into Keynesianism and toward greater state control of large pieces of the private sector would juice the economy -- and prove popular. At the moment, this is not looking prescient. The inescapable conclusion, eighteen months in, has to be that this particular mix of intelligence and judgment is more appropriate for a rising-star policy analyst at the State Department than for someone aspiring to be a great national leader. This should be an unsettling thought to those with the intelligence to see it.
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Comments :
Jun '10
Re: A Birthday Reflection on Mr. Obama
On the difference between "intelligence" and "judgment," I remember clearly a conversation that I had with my Dad over forty years ago as I went off to college. He said, "Work hard, learn something, but, for hell's sake, don't turn into an educated nitwit." By that he meant the type who gets degrees but is devoid of common sense. It think it is, in addition to a certain level of intelligence, things like "judgment," "experience," or we can call it "wisdom" that turns someone into a leader: whether it's in business or in politics.
Jose Ortega y Gasset, the Spanish philosopher, referred to a type he called the "learned ignoramus," which is, I think, the same thing as an "educated nitwit."
Is that what Obama is? His eighteen months as president has done nothing to dispel my fear that he is.
Re: A Birthday Reflection on Mr. Obama
I have nothing to add to Steven's post, except to note that it's so beautifully argued, and so completely definitive on the question of our chief executive's "judgment," that I have nothing to add.
Jun '10
Re: A Birthday Reflection on Mr. Obama
I see no evidence of great intelligence in Obama. I don't even think he's articulate. To me he's merely glib.
Judgment rules, and Reagan's was superb. How about an analogy --- Reagan : Obama :: Grace Kelly : Snookie.
Jul '10
Re: A Birthday Reflection on Mr. Obama
A few lucky souls are graced with "judgement" from birth. Most require years of making mistakes to earn it.
Mr. Obama is "green". This is what happens when we elevate an "operator" (which is what community organizers by, by definition, are) to the most important executive role in the country. He has never had to live and die by his gut decisions, his sense of what matters and what doesn't. It shows in every move he makes.
Nevertheless, Happy Birthday Mr.President!