
Stanford MBA students told George W. Bush is smarter than you - arrmjr
http://www.thefederalistpapers.org/us/stanford-mba-students-told-george-w-bush-is-smarter-than-you
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rafeed
I'd go out on a limb and say that anyone who's been President of the United
States is smarter than you (or almost everyone). It takes a lot of intellect
and masterful knowledge of the political and social systems to become
President. However, is George W. Bush smarter than the 42 other Presidents
before him?

I'm glad that the author of this article didn't try to justify that claim. He
definitely had more resources and technology available to him than the
previous 42, so one could argue that a bit, but as far as raw intellect, I
wouldn't say so. That's a hard argument to win.

~~~
jqm
I wonder how smart someone like John Kerry really is?

I mean, if you sat him down in front of a page of logic puzzles how would he
do? I have a hard time believing he would do really well although I could be
wrong.

It seems like the main qualifications for a politician are political sense and
looking good in a suit. But I don't disagree. Most people who make it to
president have to be reasonably smart.

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fidotron
If you've seen
[http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0312848/](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0312848/)
it's very obvious the guy is no idiot. What's mildly sinister about it is how
things change between him and the press as it seems he stands a chance of
actually winning.

Another character of this type is Donald Rumsfeld, who appears making
disturbingly well reasoned positions in Milton Friedman documentaries in the
80s.

It's very hard to maintain the positive view when you consider what actually
happened with them in power though, but in fairness I struggle to think of a
modern political leader that isn't true for of any persuasion.

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imjk
The argument that George W dumbed himself down to appeal to the greater
American public has been made before, as illustrated in this video:
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JvknGT8W5jA](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JvknGT8W5jA).

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lancewiggs
This is consistent with what I'd heard from (left wing) friends who interacted
with him during his presidency. I'll still judge him and his administration by
the quality of the major decisions made (and not made), and we should do the
same for all presidents.

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k0mplex
Now there's a contrarian perspective you don't come across every day. This is
what I like about HN.

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adamnemecek
This reads a lot like one of those "That boy's name? Albert Einstein" type of
email forwards.

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jqm
No doubt GB is smart enough. He was after all president. But the guy making
the statement worked with Bush and appears to support him to some extent.

Is Bush smarter than everyone in a room full of Stanford MBA students?
Possible but doubtful.

These kind absolute statements without support are generally nonsense. I might
add... exactly the type of aggressive hostile nonsense that Bush personified.

Some people might feel the dumb hick act was real. But most people who think
about it probably realize it was staged. The issue is less Bush's intelligence
and more his behavior. Being smart is only a small part of being a wise,
beneficent and effective leader or doing what is best for one's country.
Saddam was probably reasonably smart as far as smart goes. There are no
shortage of smart criminals, crooks and tyrants all over the world.

