Just how smart is Obama?
Just how smart is the President? Famous presidential historian Michael Beschloss, a regular on PBS's Newshour show, says his IQ is "off the charts" and that he is "probably the smartest guy ever to become president," while admitting he doesn't know what his IQ is. I say: let's look at the evidence.
Obama's books
"We only have a certain number [Arabic translators] of them and if they are all in Iraq, then it's harder for us to use them in Afghanistan," Obama said. (Afghanistan is not an Arabic-speaking country.)
"[I]t was also interesting to see that political interaction in Europe is not that different from the United States Senate. There's a lot of -- I don't know what the term is in Austrian, wheeling and dealing." (Confusing German for "Austrian", a language which does not exist.)
"On this Memorial Day, as our nation honors its unbroken line of fallen heroes -- and I see many of them in the audience here today -- our sense of patriotism is particularly strong. " (He sees dead people?)
"I had a uncle who was one of the, who was part of the first American troops to go into Auschwitz and liberate the concentration camps...." (Stalin's army liberated Auschwitz, and he should use "an" before a word which begins with a vowel, a grammatical error he makes often .)
"I'm always worried about using the word 'victory,' because, you know, it invokes this notion of Emperor Hirohito coming down and signing a surrender to MacArthur...." (Hirohito never attended the surrender ceremony and you don't "sign a surrender".)
"... profit and earnings ratio." (The correct term is the Price-to-earnings (P/E) ratio. Profit and earnings ratio is nonsensical.)
"The reforms we seek would bring greater competition, choice, savings and inefficiencies to our health care system," Obama said in remarks after a health care roundtable with physicians, nurses and health care providers. [emphasis added]
"Think about that," he said, "California producing jobs, their economy keeping pace with the rest of the country and yet they've been able to maintain their energy usage in a much lower level than the rest of the country."
"The point I was making was not that my grandmother harbors any racial animosity. But she is a typical white person. If she sees somebody on the street that she doesn't know. . .there's a reaction in her that don't [emphasis supplied] go away and it comes out in the wrong way."
"At the end of the conversation there was discussion about ah -- my conversation with Sgt Crowley -- there was discussion about he and I and Professor Gates havin' a beer here in the White House, ah, we don't know if that's scheduled yet but ah..." (Of course, when he's trying to sound knowingly folksy he -- like Hillary -- also drops the final g in words.)
OBAMA: The government would play that role with respect to money that the government is spending. Right? Which it always -- it currently plays that role. That's not a change.So Medicare and Medicaid -- those programs in which the government is involved and honing up [emphasis supplied] dollars, I think taxpayers would expect that we spend that money wisely. We don't want to see that money wasted on weapons systems that aren't needed. We don't want it spent on welfare programs that don't work. And we shouldn't want that spent on tests that aren't making people better.
"I could have calibrated those words differently" [emphasis supplied]
"...That generally the Constitution is a charter of negative liberties. Says what the states can't do to you, but doesn't say what the federal government or state government must do on your behalf. And that hasn't shifted." (Interview on WBEZ-FM 2001)
"In March, President Obama announced that government officials would not be allowed to consider the views of lobbyists regarding specific stimulus projects unless the requests are put in writing. The materials also had to be posted on an agency's website within three business days of receipt."