
(2013) George W. Bush is smarter than you - 464192002d7fe1c
http://keithhennessey.com/2013/04/24/smarter/?1
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CurtMonash
My brother in law, a classmate of Bush's at HBS, said he seemed of pretty
average intellect for that group.

HBS students in those days were, as a group, pretty smart.

Bush's real intellectual shame as president was his ignorance. He didn't think
hard about most public policy issues until he decided to run in 1999. His
debate statements were pretty obvious bluffs. I referred to him as "evil" for
running despite being so ignorant and hence unqualified.

None of that precludes him having figured most of it out by the time he'd been
president 4-6 years.

I really, really, really, really wish our current President-Elect had 1/3 the
understanding Bush took office with. :(

~~~
headmelted
I'm not American, so I try to not chime in with an opinion on this topic
because I don't feel like its any of my business.

Now that you've raised it though, I think it's worth considering that GWB at
least understood the office he was taking (setting aside how I or others feel
about the actual decisions taken). I don't feel like your next president
understands this at all, and certainly I don't think even his supporters see
any reverence for the office.

I see no evidence, even now, that he has any grasp of the situation he is in,
which is incredibly dangerous for global stability.

The point I'm trying to make is that I think there's a very good chance that
history will remember GWB more favourably after the next 4/8 years are behind
us.

~~~
CurtMonash
I am very much in line with your general thinking.

I thought both that Bush was one of the very worst presidents in US history
AND that he compared favorably (above average) to other world leaders in his
time.

Before Trump, we could take it for granted the US president was a serious
person who cared about having the country do well and wasn't interested in
anything resembling an authoritarian takeover. (Even Richard Nixon had plenty
of lines he wouldn't cross, some of which Trump already has.)

Trump is incomparably worse than Bush as a choice for President.

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AlexCoventry
This paean does not address the litany of massive strategic blunders which
happened on Bush's watch, the consequences of which are still plaguing the US
today.

\- Discouraging counter-terrorism investigations prior to 9/11 [0,1]

\- The famous ignorance of government warnings of the coming attack which
arose despite that discouragement

\- Decision to invade Iraq

\- Initially laissez-faire approach to the housing and financial crises. You
didn't have to be smart to see those coming, you just had to be paying
attention and apply basic economic principles.

These are all executive decisions for which he was responsible as President.

If this is smart, I'd hate to see dumb.

[0]
[http://www.historycommons.org/entity.jsp?entity=thomas_picka...](http://www.historycommons.org/entity.jsp?entity=thomas_pickard)

[1]
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_A._Clarke#9.2F11_Commi...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_A._Clarke#9.2F11_Commission)

~~~
rl3
> _If this is smart, I 'd hate to see dumb._

Well, 2017 is right around the corner.

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pfarnsworth
Spoken like a true, loyal lapdog. Well done!

Meanwhile, he only got into Yale because of legacy, did terribly in school, he
got everything handed to him afterwards, and fucked up everything he touched,
including the entire world by entering in the Iraq War. Afterwards, the entire
Middle East was destabilized, and hundreds of thousands of Iraqis are dead.

~~~
varjag
Is moratorium on politics on HN over now?

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blevinstein
Estimates online suggest that GWB has an IQ of 120-125, making him smarter
than the average college grad, perhaps slightly less intelligent than the
average person with an advanced degree.

It's also worth noting that IQ is not a particularly good predictor of
presidential success, and only a partial measure of intelligence.

[https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/U.S._Presidential_IQ_hoax#ci...](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/U.S._Presidential_IQ_hoax#cite_note-8)

[http://www.assessmentpsychology.com/](http://www.assessmentpsychology.com/)

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tbrownaw
_One of my students asked “How involved was President Bush with what was going
on?” I smiled and responded, “What you really mean is, ‘Was President Bush
smart enough to understand what was going on,’ right?”_

I'm probably just missing context here (details on what _exactly_ was being
discussed at that moment, tone of voice of the asker, etc), but the question
as asked seems perfectly sensible. How closely _did_ the head of the executive
involve himself vs letting the experts it should have been delegated to deal
with it?

I know I'd probably have been torn between protest and silently wtfing if I'd
had a professor put words in my mouth like that when I was in college.

------
biehl
Doesn't Hanlon's razor makes a post like that really uncomfortable?

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hanlon's_razor](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hanlon's_razor)

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464192002d7fe1c
Not sure why this was flagged/removed without comment, there was interesting
discussion going on. Resubmitted.

~~~
hkmurakami
Thanks for both your original and resubmission. This really made me think
about "my own opinions", which I've started to realize are often just other
people's opinions (often that of the elite press) hoisted upon me and tricked
into thinking are my own.

With much of modern intellectualism simply being an adoption of other people's
ideas and beliefs without actual independent consideration, this was a
refreshing perspective.

~~~
464192002d7fe1c
Glad you like it. I think people should really spend more time challenging
their deepest held beliefs to find out the truth, or lack thereof behind them.

