Was Jed Bartlett Too Smart?

In considering the upcoming US Presidential election I keep having the same thought: is it too much to expect that the President of the United States be a smart person? I guess I have to qualify it too, I don't mean smart appearing or street smart, I mean book smart - smart, intelligent, bright and well educated.

I think the last eight years have been about slick and not about smart. They've found all kinds of ways to do things cheaper, ways to appear to be making a big difference without making much outlay, ways of sounding like we're doing something when we're not or even when we're doing completely the opposite thing. What we haven't seen is much that we're doing better - inherently better, as in higher quality as opposed to better economically, or more profitably for the private sector. Looking back, I don't think we have anyone to blame but ourselves. The people we put in power, and the system we've allowed them to create rewards slick over smart.

The man who is currently our President really, truly struggles to get through the day having all of his public speaking at or above a high school level. At the recent Republican debate one of the moderators asked Fred Thomson the name of the PM of Canada. I usually feel like the "What's the price of a gallon of milk?" questions are unfair. I feel like politicians are so handled that they get a free pass on "out of touch with the common people." But this was a germane knowledge question. In point of fact, on this occasion he got it right, but I am quite certain his people were in the wings praying with everything they had and thinking about what to say if he whiffed it. It wouldn't have been unusual if he'd got it wrong, just like it wasn't unusual when Bush pretty much declared Mandela deceased. Depressing, factually wrong, but not unusual.

Jed Bartlett could quote the Bible, he liked doing taxes, he knew the actual difference between a shaken and a stirred martini, he could find the mathematical nuances of modern classical music, he knew off the top of his head the capitol of Micronesia and could out of his butt pull the biography of Norman Borlaug - inventor of dwarf wheat. He could play and win concurrent games of chess against his own staff. He had a Nobel Prize in economics. You know? Smart, well rounded, educated.

I want smart. I'm over slick. I think we've fudged and spun and gamed everything to within an inch of its life and now it's time for some consolidation, time for someone who doesn't see the virtue of gaming, spin, and close counts.

Is it elitist to never want to question that the person leading our country is smarter than me? I've got some skilz, but I am certainly no SAT 1600 person (or I guess now that'd be 2400). I no longer think its enough to console ourselves with "he'll have the right people around him." Why? What inspires us to think that a less bright person would instinctively choose more bright people? Certainly one cannot have watched the current administration and continue to think that.

The President is more than a decider. The President needs to be an evaluator. The President needs to be a considerer. The President should be a contimplator. Crossing our fingers, hoping the "right people" will be there to present options, and then that Jesus will tell the man the right thing to do - that just hasn't worked very well. Maybe Jed Bartlett was too smart, but he's not that bad a ruler to gauge our future rulers against.