Stanford MBA students told George W. Bush is smarter than you

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.

If you've seen 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.

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.

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.

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

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

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.