Is Obama Stupid or Smart?

In over his head or too smart for his own good?

August 10, 2011 RSS Feed Print
  • Comment (23)
New York Times OP-ED Columnist Maureen Dowd

New York Times OP-ED Columnist Maureen Dowd

President Obama doesn't need to read the right-wing press to catch up on what his critics are saying anymore. Now the anger is coming from the New York Times, MSNBC, and the Washington Post in columns and rants that accuse the president of being stupid, clueless, cold, and an empty suit. [See a slide show of 10 issues driving Obama's re-election campaign.]

On the Today Show this morning, MSNBC host Chris Matthews said the president was out of touch with blue collar workers and ordered Obama to get a heart. In the New York Times, columnist Maureen Dowd called the president inept. In the Washington Post, columnist Richard Cohen called the president cold.

Of course, the president is extremely bright, having a Harvard law degree and himself being a former teacher. But his liberal critics seem to be wondering if he has the political smarts to pull himself out of his current crisis. Bill Clinton was book smart too, but had the political chops to stage multiple comebacks.

It is the not-so-friendly Wall Street Journal that sets up our poll today when columnist Bret Stephens bluntly wrote: "The president isn't very bright." [See a slide show of 10 things Obama can learn from Clinton.]

Is President Obama stupid or smart?

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Wall Street Journal,
Chris Matthews,
Maureen Dowd,
MSNBC,
Bill Clinton,
New York Times

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I think President is an opportunist for his own self serving interests, admittedly a product of racist affirmative action. He could care less about the country. He is causing businesses like ours to not be able to hire new people because of mandatory health benefits, like 18k, before you pay an employee a dime! All my clients are talking about cutting back under these conditions. Again, the President could care less. He doesn't have to eat out of a garbage bin!

Robert Fagnant of RI 5:37PM October 29, 2012

O. said Benghazi was a video protest, even after his State people conceded that terrorists had planned it. To paraphrase Sununu, he's either a liar or a fool, and if he's a liar he's a foolish one.

GJ Tryon 3:57PM October 13, 2012

Unfortunately the "president" has proven again and again since he was elected that he's not just stupid, he's unimaginably politically brain-dead. he is a coward, arrogant, and passive--this is NOT a description of the needed, absoloutely required, qualities that a president must, MUST have. Barack Obama in fact was, and is, a [politiocal fool. He has no idea at all how to lead, persuade, or when to get out of the way: he has no damned business sitting in The White House. He's misplayed every single issue he's touched since he was elected. His genius obviously lies in BEING elected--he most certainly has proven to the American public and to the world that he has no ability to, not even an idea of, how to govern. Instead he sits there in The White House, convinced in his overweaning arrogance that he's a genius, secure in his judgment he's always right--and watches his political world crumble around him. Then he blames it on everyone else. Mr President: The Buck Stops There.

Stanley White of MA 12:05AM September 08, 2011

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