Cerebral commander-in-chief? Not so much

Cerebral commander-in-chief? Not so much

Posted on March 27th, 2010 by Daniel Putkowski

Today I read Peggy Noonan’s regular piece in the Wall Street Journal, The Heat Is On. We May Get Burned. Normally I appreciate Ms. Noonan’s insightful and carefully crafted missives. However, today was one more straw on a camel’s back that’s about to break. Ms. Noonan, like so many others, refers to the people in the current administration, including the man at the top, as “so bright.” Ahem. I beg to differ.

In the first place, the current U.S. Administration has produced nothing successful in terms of domestic or foreign policy. They have recycled a mantra born of Marx, raised by Euro-socialists, and finally polished to high gloss by Hollywood, USA. Please, “spreading the wealth” policies aren’t ones created by bright people. They’re created by bitter, angry, envious, and dim people, ones typically bent on telling the rest of the country that the rules are to be obeyed except by themselves. Consider the results: consistent failure by any measure. Does the Euro-socialist have less debt and higher living standards? No. Their invoice has come due and they’re scrambling with how to pay. Has the Middle East been mollified to even a minor degree. Sorry, no. Have the Iranians given up the quest for the A-bomb? Uh, not hardly. Has the economy snapped back? Not yet. Has China agreed to free-float their currency? Nope. Have the Russians laid off their former satellites? Nyet. Chavez taken a powder? No.

As for leadership by Ms. Noonan’s supposedly bright person, consider that he drops a list of demands before the prime minister of Israel and walks out for a meal. Is this the action of an intellectual superior? No, this is the method of an angry, arrogant, envious, and pitifully dim man. He resorts to brute thuggery. Why? Isn’t he the one who is supposed to be so eloquent, so persuasive, so congenial? No, he is not. If he were bright as too many claim, he wouldn’t have needed to bribe Congress and various constituencies to pound through his health care plan. He would have made appeals that gained support without the purchase price of billions. He would have been able to have a meaningful and productive dialog with another head of state. No, the Oval Office is not occupied by a particularly bright person. All evidence points to the exact opposite.

What the evidence also shows is that the press, many members of Congress, and too many people in the public no longer have an accurate method of measuring the quality of those in high office. What passes for bright today is woefully below the mark. If you wear a snazzy suit, walk with a swagger, and wag your finger in moments of barely controlled hostility, well, you’re a bright fellow capable of leading a nation. Never mind that you’re a retread worn down to the cords the moment you stepped into the light. You look good through the soft-focus lens. Peggy Noonan said so. And that makes it true.