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Related: 'George W. Bush is smarter than you'. Elite leaders often make themselves look dumber than they really are. https://keithhennessey.com/2013/04/24/smar

by rb808 9y ago

Related: 'George W. Bush is smarter than you'. Elite leaders often make themselves look dumber than they really are. https://keithhennessey.com/2013/04/24/smarter/ https://keithhennessey.com/2013/04/24/smarter/

strictnein 9y ago
Great article. Especially the bit about the creation of the GWB caricature. People are so beholden to the idea that he was an idiot that almost no amount of evidence will change that.
mlevental 9y ago
this is a crock. it was a crock when it was written and it's still a crock now. the idea that someone can for 8 years in the spotlight disguise themselves so much so that appear wholly opposite is ludicrous. it takes months for professional actors to produce 90 minutes of performance - the guy was on camera for literally weeks. he's not "smarter than you" this kind of revisionist nonsense is politically motivated - people were saying the same exact thing about Trump before he took office and we are now all very sure it's not the case.
- QAPereo 9y ago
  Some people probably can, but then in addition to being intelligent he’d have to be an incredibly talented and disciplined actor. Unlikely.
- monochromatic 9y ago
  > people were saying the same exact thing about Trump before he took office and we are now all very sure it's not the case Don't be so sure. First, he outsmarted both political parties to become the most powerful man in the world. And in his first year as president, he's been far more effective at getting things done than most. The fact that some people dislike the things he's getting done doesn't take anything away from that.
  - macintux 9y ago
    > And in his first year as president, he's been far more effective at getting things done than most. Citation (other than him or his spokespersons) needed.
    - monochromatic 9y ago
      http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/trumps-top-9-accomplishments-of-2017/article/2644478 http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/trumps-top-9-accomplishmen... http://blog.dilbert.com/2017/11/13/president-trumps-2017-report-card-first-draft/ http://blog.dilbert.com/2017/11/13/president-trumps-2017-rep...
      - Daishiman 9y ago
        Those are BS accomplishments and their twisting of logic is beyond ludicrous.
        monochromatic 9y ago
        > The fact that some people dislike the things he's getting done doesn't take anything away from that. What’s BS about them?
        s73ver_ 9y ago
        You don't get to claim judicial appointments as one of your accomplishments when the only reason they are there is because another member of your party, who happened to be the Senate Majority Leader, basically said "You Shall Not Pass!" to all the previous President's nominees. As for "government waste", arguably he's wasting far, far, far more with his golf trips than any that he "saved". And many of those "savings" came at the expense of social programs that, without, will likely end up costing us more. The travel ban is a giant example of his racism that I guess you could put on his accomplishments, if only to show how brazenly racist he would be in office. Even then, it's initial rollout was a complete and utter disaster, and it was prevented by injunction several times. Trump has NOT defeated ISIS. Not even close. Throwing gasoline on an already fiery situation in the Middle East is NOT an accomplishment. Dooming the US to irrelevance by being the one first world nation to not participate in the Paris Climate Accords, thus ceding our position as leader of the world, is also NOT an accomplishment.
- tormeh 9y ago
  Do you think you could become president of the US if you just wanted to? Probably not. Trump is smart. I would be in literal, not figurative, disbelief if any president in the history of modern US weren't. The competition for that position is very sharp and only the best make it. There are many problems with Trump, but IQ isn't one of them. Hitler wasn't dumb either. Being a good demagogue is hard. The strategy and skillset is somewhat different to ordinary politics, but don't mistake that for ease. While we're at it: Youtubers and fashion bloggers aren't dumb either. Trump is narcissistic, insecure, mean, ignorant and has no honor, but dumb he ain't. Underestimating the guy is unwise.
  - Retra 9y ago
    Hitler put himself into a situation where the best option, in his opinion, was to blow his own brains out. So he's not winning any awards for being brilliant. Perhaps being a good demagogue has more to do with luck and circumstance than it does with skill and intelligence? Maybe that's why it's not so common? Intelligence means achieving your goals on purpose. It is something that can be taught and reproduced in others. You can't just wait for entropy to spontaneously arrange for your success and claim to be a genius, even if it works the one time you try it.
    - watwut 9y ago
      Your definition of intelligence is quite unorthodox and so is idea that brilliance somehow excludes suicide or risk taking or over confidence - all things that can make you loose big time. Hitler ability to speak was not luck. It was work, skill and talent. And world did not just spontaneously arranged itself for them to get power, Hitler took a lot of calculated deeps to make it so, it is not like he was only one trying to get that power. Saying that it was nothing but luck is ahistorical. Not that it makes him any less immoral.
      - namelost 9y ago
        Hitler was perhaps one of the stupidest people to ever grace the history books, and managed to wipe out vast numbers of his own people, including himself, in a completely pointless war of his own making, wherein he managed to make enemies of three of the most powerful entities in the world at that time.
- TheCoelacanth 9y ago
  It wouldn't be that big of an act. Even smart people can be naturally inarticulate. And a big part of the reason he was perceived as being dumb wasn't even him saying stupid things, it was just him saying things in a way that was stereotypically associated with lack of intelligence.
  - vkou 9y ago
    He said plenty of seemingly stupid things too, but in hindsight, they have been more deliberately dishonest then stupid.
- emmelaich 9y ago
  Possibly, very possibly you're wrong. You're operating on superficial impression and comparing that to people who know him? Part of the reason he is blamed for stupid decisions is that he never sloughed off responsibility. (Unlike some certain other recent presidents and president wanna-bes)
- booleandilemma 9y ago
  You don’t become president of the United States by accident.
  - QAPereo 9y ago
    I wonder if he had some kind of political connections that could have helped?
  - jacquesm 9y ago
    No, it is not an accident. It is mostly a matter of money applied with some precision. Brand recognition helps.
    - qznc 9y ago
      So who was responsible for applying the precision and maintaining brand value?
      - mrguyorama 9y ago
        The several companies Trump spent large sums of money on who do that as their job?
- qznc 9y ago
  > people were saying the same exact thing about Trump before he took office and we are now all very sure it's not the case. Here is one guy who was "saying the same exact thing about Trump before he took office" and is still very sure it is the case: http://blog.dilbert.com/2018/01/18/fake-news-awards-persuasive/ http://blog.dilbert.com/2018/01/18/fake-news-awards-persuasi...
Nokinside 9y ago
GWB was certainly not a dummy or an idiot if we mean cognitive ability like IQ. Becoming even mediocre pilot for F-102 Delta Dagger requires quick learning ability. GWB started as a young, affluent and connected person who didn't have to exhort himself intellectually and he continued that way. Him being dummy was him being ignorant and never developing required skills.
- emmelaich 9y ago
  Well, John Kerry had a privileged upbringing and always gives out a 'smart' vibe. But he did worse academically than Bush.
  - Nokinside 9y ago
    Yale for the privileged was a way to connect and have a good time. Both of them continued studying. Kerry received J.D, passed bar exam and worked as a prosecutor. GWB received MBA from HBS.
mercurialshark 9y ago
He’s a Fool that cannot conceal his Wisdom. — Benjamin Franklin > Related: 'George W. Bush is smarter than you'. While it may be in vogue to flaunt intelligence in certain professional circles, many, including Bill Gates define "smart" as "an elusive concept. There’s a certain sharpness, an ability to absorb new facts. To walk into a situation, have something explained to you and immediately say, 'Well, what about this?' To ask an insightful question. To absorb it in real time. A capacity to remember. To relate to domains that may not seem connected at first. A certain creativity that allows people to be effective." https://www.thejournal.ie/bill-gates-top-quotes-690230-Dec2012/ https://www.thejournal.ie/bill-gates-top-quotes-690230-Dec20... According to many intelligence officials and former advisors, Bush perfectly fits Bill Gates definition of being incredibly intelligent. The reality is, just because a leader hasn't convinced you of their abilities, that in no way detracts from them.
andrewjl 9y ago
GWB may be intelligent, but he demonstrated very little of it during his tenure in office. The Iraq war was architected by Cheney / Rumsfeld, Bush playing an incidental part at best. The invasion of Afghanistan demonstrated a studied lack of historical knowledge and the failure points of previous attempted invasions. Charitably, he does get credit for kickstarting the drone program which gave the US a credible (if ethically suspect) deterrent to terrorist organizations. However BO gets deserves more credit for deploying both the physical and legal apparatus to make routine drone strikes, particularly in places like Pakistan, a reality. As for the economy, the tax cuts were a core Republican party agenda item since Reagan. Bush did not drive that, Congress did. Privatization of Social Security? Failed. Immigration? Same. Foreign policy? Besides alienating allies via needless wars, nothing noteworthy. That leaves two things, foreign aid and No Child Left Behind. The former was a legitimate accomplishment and for that GWB should get credit. The latter had mixed results. Then again an above average presidency does not a supposedly smart President make.

by rb808 9y ago

strictnein 9y ago

Great article. Especially the bit about the creation of the GWB caricature. People are so beholden to the idea that he was an idiot that almost no amount of evidence will change that.

mlevental 9y ago

this is a crock. it was a crock when it was written and it's still a crock now. the idea that someone can for 8 years in the spotlight disguise themselves so much so that appear wholly opposite is ludicrous. it takes months for professional actors to produce 90 minutes of performance - the guy was on camera for literally weeks. he's not "smarter than you" this kind of revisionist nonsense is politically motivated - people were saying the same exact thing about Trump before he took office and we are now all very sure it's not the case.

QAPereo 9y ago
Some people probably can, but then in addition to being intelligent he’d have to be an incredibly talented and disciplined actor. Unlikely.
monochromatic 9y ago
> people were saying the same exact thing about Trump before he took office and we are now all very sure it's not the case Don't be so sure. First, he outsmarted both political parties to become the most powerful man in the world. And in his first year as president, he's been far more effective at getting things done than most. The fact that some people dislike the things he's getting done doesn't take anything away from that.
- macintux 9y ago
  > And in his first year as president, he's been far more effective at getting things done than most. Citation (other than him or his spokespersons) needed.
  - monochromatic 9y ago
    http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/trumps-top-9-accomplishments-of-2017/article/2644478 http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/trumps-top-9-accomplishmen... http://blog.dilbert.com/2017/11/13/president-trumps-2017-report-card-first-draft/ http://blog.dilbert.com/2017/11/13/president-trumps-2017-rep...
    - Daishiman 9y ago
      Those are BS accomplishments and their twisting of logic is beyond ludicrous.
      - monochromatic 9y ago
        > The fact that some people dislike the things he's getting done doesn't take anything away from that. What’s BS about them?
        s73ver_ 9y ago
        You don't get to claim judicial appointments as one of your accomplishments when the only reason they are there is because another member of your party, who happened to be the Senate Majority Leader, basically said "You Shall Not Pass!" to all the previous President's nominees. As for "government waste", arguably he's wasting far, far, far more with his golf trips than any that he "saved". And many of those "savings" came at the expense of social programs that, without, will likely end up costing us more. The travel ban is a giant example of his racism that I guess you could put on his accomplishments, if only to show how brazenly racist he would be in office. Even then, it's initial rollout was a complete and utter disaster, and it was prevented by injunction several times. Trump has NOT defeated ISIS. Not even close. Throwing gasoline on an already fiery situation in the Middle East is NOT an accomplishment. Dooming the US to irrelevance by being the one first world nation to not participate in the Paris Climate Accords, thus ceding our position as leader of the world, is also NOT an accomplishment.
tormeh 9y ago
Do you think you could become president of the US if you just wanted to? Probably not. Trump is smart. I would be in literal, not figurative, disbelief if any president in the history of modern US weren't. The competition for that position is very sharp and only the best make it. There are many problems with Trump, but IQ isn't one of them. Hitler wasn't dumb either. Being a good demagogue is hard. The strategy and skillset is somewhat different to ordinary politics, but don't mistake that for ease. While we're at it: Youtubers and fashion bloggers aren't dumb either. Trump is narcissistic, insecure, mean, ignorant and has no honor, but dumb he ain't. Underestimating the guy is unwise.
- Retra 9y ago
  Hitler put himself into a situation where the best option, in his opinion, was to blow his own brains out. So he's not winning any awards for being brilliant. Perhaps being a good demagogue has more to do with luck and circumstance than it does with skill and intelligence? Maybe that's why it's not so common? Intelligence means achieving your goals on purpose. It is something that can be taught and reproduced in others. You can't just wait for entropy to spontaneously arrange for your success and claim to be a genius, even if it works the one time you try it.
  - watwut 9y ago
    Your definition of intelligence is quite unorthodox and so is idea that brilliance somehow excludes suicide or risk taking or over confidence - all things that can make you loose big time. Hitler ability to speak was not luck. It was work, skill and talent. And world did not just spontaneously arranged itself for them to get power, Hitler took a lot of calculated deeps to make it so, it is not like he was only one trying to get that power. Saying that it was nothing but luck is ahistorical. Not that it makes him any less immoral.
    - namelost 9y ago
      Hitler was perhaps one of the stupidest people to ever grace the history books, and managed to wipe out vast numbers of his own people, including himself, in a completely pointless war of his own making, wherein he managed to make enemies of three of the most powerful entities in the world at that time.
TheCoelacanth 9y ago
It wouldn't be that big of an act. Even smart people can be naturally inarticulate. And a big part of the reason he was perceived as being dumb wasn't even him saying stupid things, it was just him saying things in a way that was stereotypically associated with lack of intelligence.
- vkou 9y ago
  He said plenty of seemingly stupid things too, but in hindsight, they have been more deliberately dishonest then stupid.
emmelaich 9y ago
Possibly, very possibly you're wrong. You're operating on superficial impression and comparing that to people who know him? Part of the reason he is blamed for stupid decisions is that he never sloughed off responsibility. (Unlike some certain other recent presidents and president wanna-bes)
booleandilemma 9y ago
You don’t become president of the United States by accident.
- QAPereo 9y ago
  I wonder if he had some kind of political connections that could have helped?
- jacquesm 9y ago
  No, it is not an accident. It is mostly a matter of money applied with some precision. Brand recognition helps.
  - qznc 9y ago
    So who was responsible for applying the precision and maintaining brand value?
    - mrguyorama 9y ago
      The several companies Trump spent large sums of money on who do that as their job?
qznc 9y ago
> people were saying the same exact thing about Trump before he took office and we are now all very sure it's not the case. Here is one guy who was "saying the same exact thing about Trump before he took office" and is still very sure it is the case: http://blog.dilbert.com/2018/01/18/fake-news-awards-persuasive/ http://blog.dilbert.com/2018/01/18/fake-news-awards-persuasi...

Nokinside 9y ago

GWB was certainly not a dummy or an idiot if we mean cognitive ability like IQ. Becoming even mediocre pilot for F-102 Delta Dagger requires quick learning ability. GWB started as a young, affluent and connected person who didn't have to exhort himself intellectually and he continued that way. Him being dummy was him being ignorant and never developing required skills.

emmelaich 9y ago
Well, John Kerry had a privileged upbringing and always gives out a 'smart' vibe. But he did worse academically than Bush.
- Nokinside 9y ago
  Yale for the privileged was a way to connect and have a good time. Both of them continued studying. Kerry received J.D, passed bar exam and worked as a prosecutor. GWB received MBA from HBS.

mercurialshark 9y ago

He’s a Fool that cannot conceal his Wisdom. — Benjamin Franklin > Related: 'George W. Bush is smarter than you'. While it may be in vogue to flaunt intelligence in certain professional circles, many, including Bill Gates define "smart" as "an elusive concept. There’s a certain sharpness, an ability to absorb new facts. To walk into a situation, have something explained to you and immediately say, 'Well, what about this?' To ask an insightful question. To absorb it in real time. A capacity to remember. To relate to domains that may not seem connected at first. A certain creativity that allows people to be effective." https://www.thejournal.ie/bill-gates-top-quotes-690230-Dec2012/ https://www.thejournal.ie/bill-gates-top-quotes-690230-Dec20... According to many intelligence officials and former advisors, Bush perfectly fits Bill Gates definition of being incredibly intelligent. The reality is, just because a leader hasn't convinced you of their abilities, that in no way detracts from them.

andrewjl 9y ago

GWB may be intelligent, but he demonstrated very little of it during his tenure in office. The Iraq war was architected by Cheney / Rumsfeld, Bush playing an incidental part at best. The invasion of Afghanistan demonstrated a studied lack of historical knowledge and the failure points of previous attempted invasions. Charitably, he does get credit for kickstarting the drone program which gave the US a credible (if ethically suspect) deterrent to terrorist organizations. However BO gets deserves more credit for deploying both the physical and legal apparatus to make routine drone strikes, particularly in places like Pakistan, a reality. As for the economy, the tax cuts were a core Republican party agenda item since Reagan. Bush did not drive that, Congress did. Privatization of Social Security? Failed. Immigration? Same. Foreign policy? Besides alienating allies via needless wars, nothing noteworthy. That leaves two things, foreign aid and No Child Left Behind. The former was a legitimate accomplishment and for that GWB should get credit. The latter had mixed results. Then again an above average presidency does not a supposedly smart President make.