Sunday, February 21, 2010

Michael Barone: Obama's Lacking Intuition (Judgment?)

(via Contentions) the Great Michael Barone clues us in:

"No president enters office knowing everything he needs to know. His experience is limited to some greater or lesser extent; his knowledge of the people from whom he will choose appointees is incomplete; his mastery of the substance of public policy, after years on the campaign trail, is likely to be out of date. And like all of us, he does not know what the future will bring.

So presidents must rely on something else, something intangible and unquantifiable, in determining what is within the realm of possibility and what is a bridge too far: intuition.

Great leaders have it, though it sometimes fails; failed leaders don't, though their plans sometimes succeed."

As for Obama, Barone tells us that:

"Barack Obama, so far, seems to belong in the second category. Like everyone who gets elected president, he entered office brimming with confidence, convinced he could end the hostility of the Iranian mullahs, Islamist terrorists, the leaders of China and Russia, and the likes of Hugo Chavez.

At least so far, that confidence has proved to be dreamy. Obama now knows their hostility was rooted not just in distaste for George W. Bush's Texas twang but to the fundamental character of the American people.

 Muslim middle name hasn't made much difference."

His conclusion, to which I subscribe 100%:

"Obama too may develop better intuition than he has shown so far. But first he has to acknowledge that a successful presidency requires more than the confidence conferred by a high IQ and fancy degrees."

I was never impressed with his "fancy degrees" or his putatively high IQ - in fact, I've never believed that he's  particularly intelligent - although TOTUS might be.  Well, as Rev. Wright might have said, "the chickens have now come home to roost."

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