How smart is Barack Obama ?

One of the main selling points of candidate Barack Obama’s presidential campaign was how intelligent he was. The easiest way for him to demonstrate his huge intellect was to point out how stupid president Bush was. This was very effective, because the general perspective of the American voting public was that a baboon with a banana could do a better job than George Bush. We all had to accept that we had voted for a baboon not only once, but twice as Bush served two terms. Obama’s massive intelligence was a given, although most of his transcripts and thesis work from his college years is closely guarded and off limits. Most people just looked at his big head and the very proper English that he uses as proof conclusive that his brain power was unprecedented for a president. The “change” and “hope” he made central to his campaign was depending on Obama’s genius to transform our country and bring us back from the brink.

In his speech to the graduating class 0f 2010 at Hampton University, president Obama said ” “And with iPods and iPads; and Xboxes and PlayStations — none of which I know how to work — information becomes a distraction, a diversion, a form of entertainment, rather than a tool of empowerment, rather than the means of emancipation.” SAY WHAT ? The collective world of educated elitists and progressive snobs did a double take. All of a sudden, Obama’s intellect was in question. Never mind that the majority of Americans do not agree with his policies, and most of us cannot understand them (we already know politicians don’t read), we were always assured that president Obama knew something we did not. Now we find that we all know stuff that he doesn’t, like playing on an X-box or using an i-Phone. Whos knows what else we know how to do that Obama does not know. Additionally our president clued us in to  the fact that too much information wasn’t good for us. Now we were all looking at that enormous head of his and realizing that it may have not been from being super smart, but from absorbing too much information.

Back in reality, the exact opposite is true. Most of us know how to access and use information to our advantage. Take for example Carconnection.com. This is a website for researching automobiles for purchase. Users can enter information such as suzuki sx4, or mercedes benz r-class, or scion xd to bring up specific data on that make or model. Users can even search for groupings of vehicles. With the current price of a gallon of gas expected to rise dramatically in the future, searching for Hybrid cars might provide much needed information on how to go green. Getting the facts helps us make the best choice, when deciding to purchase a car.

The president is constantly telling us that he needs time to process all pertinent information, before he can take action. The amount of time he is taking and the questionable decisions that he is making is making us begin to wonder if maybe “too much” information is a bad thing for him, not us. When it comes to processing information, most of us say “yes we can”. Whether Barack Obama can remains to be seen. At the very least we have learned that you cannot judge a book by its cover, or at least a president’s intellect by the size of his head.