The American Spectator : President Spock

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President Spock

By Jeffrey Lord on 12.15.09 @ 6:08AM

Obama's lack of emotional intelligence -- is the President dumb?

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We have all met Spocks in real life. Frequently they are to be found nesting in academia (the President, of course, prides himself on having taught constitutional law at the University of Chicago), but in fact Spocks are everywhere. The boss who has a new fangled marketing plan that is so complex no one charged with executing it understands what he's talking about. The minister who gives impassioned sermons about the state of the world but can't figure out how to turn down the church thermostat. The bureaucrat who comes up with a 300-page document telling government employees how to buy a toilet seat for the office.

Spocks can be absolutely brilliant -- if in fact the definition of "brilliant" rests solely on intellectual IQ. But in reality they can be dumb as a post because they simply are unable to read the human personality, have little capacity for empathy, cannot understand at a visceral level the power of emotion. They exist, in short, in their heads, completely unable to understand real human beings in any practical sense. Awash in a world of what appears to be crisp logic and theory -- they are clueless to the call of the very real world around them.

This Spockian trait is entertaining in the movies. Mr. Spock, much beloved by audiences and his friend Captain Kirk, is, after all, a Hollywood confection. But what happens when a real-life human being of the Spockian mindset ascends to the White House?

Trouble is what happens, big time. And Barack Obama is not the first to play out the role of a President Spock, running his White House by strict rules of seemingly peerless logic while an enthusiastic Spockian media hails the great leader for his intellectual brilliance.

At least three American presidents of the 20th century fit this description -- and things ended badly for all three.

1. Woodrow Wilson: A progressive Democrat, Wilson spent his pre-political life in academia, gaining renown as the president of Princeton University. If one were to judge by intellectual IQ Wilson would surely rank near the top if not at the top of all presidents. But unfortunately, the real world does not exist in this fashion -- then, now or for that matter, ever. In fact, in retrospect it is more than apparent that Wilson's Emotional Intelligence, as opposed to his Intellectual Intelligence, was severely lacking. This problem surfaced repeatedly in Wilson's presidency, but was perhaps most vividly on display in his drive to shape the peace at the end of World War I by creating the League of Nations.

Sitting amidst the astonished diplomats of Europe at the Paris Peace Conference, Wilson casually observed of his determination to set up a League of Nations:

"Why has Jesus Christ so far not succeeded in inducing the world to follow his teachings in these matters? It is because He taught the ideal without devising any practical means of attaining it. That is why I am proposing a practical scheme to carry out His aims."

Put aside the Messianic self-reference (that is -- hmmmm -- eerily Obamaesque). There were others aplenty -- most importantly in the U.S. Senate that would have to confirm any American entry into the proposed League -- who simply saw things differently. Wilson was completely incapable of working practically with his arch-rival Senator Henry Cabot Lodge, or of understanding the glaring real-world, everyday problems that the Treaty of Versailles would present succeeding generations. All of what Wilson did was perfectly logical in his head -- a President Spock at work. Wilson was utterly unable to grasp the human emotions of his European counterparts. Historian James David Barber reports in his classic book on Presidential Character of Wilson snapping that he had a headache because of "bottled-up wrath at Lloyd George." So convinced was he of his own logic and reason that "he insisted on going into conferences alone -- no secretary, no aides, no advisors." On another occasion as he pushed for the League he scolded an audience that "The facts are marching and God is marching with them." It was all logical to Wilson.

In the end, there was disaster. Not only could Wilson not convince his fellow Americans of the need for the League, he signed onto a treaty that sent the world on a route to the global horror of the Second World War. Every step Wilson took at the time seemed perfectly logical to him. So predictable was this reliance on his own logic that when it was suggested to Senator Lodge that he would have trouble defeating Wilson on the League, the canny Senator responded with what amounted to a clear understanding of the President's Spockian ways: "We can always count on Mr. Wilson. He has never failed us." And indeed, he did not. Lodge won.

2. Herbert Hoover: Hoover was a progressive Republican, by background and education a man who had become a tremendous success as a mining engineer -- a field built entirely on a devotion to logic and mathematics. So self-involved in his logical thinking was Hoover that it was said while dining in the White House he "would sit in complete silence, sunk in concentration." So absorbed was he that he repeatedly ignored the White House servants, who eventually hid from him when a signal was sent that he was about to walk in the vicinity. Hoover's response to criticism from those who did not understand his logic -- or thought it a road to disaster -- was "hurt contempt" or "pained disbelief." His Spockian intelligence and dependence on logic, once a highly touted asset, "froze into inflexibility" with his dedication "smitten by self-righteousness." By 1932, his rigidity and reflexive insistence on logic had earned him contempt and enmity from his countrymen, who sent him packing in a landslide for the personally vivacious Franklin Roosevelt.

3. Jimmy Carter: Like Hoover an engineer (turned peanut farmer when he left the Navy) Carter is the most recent example of a President Spock. Looking past the astounding murderous record of decades of Soviet thuggery, President Carter blithely announced that Americans needed to move past an "inordinate fear" of Communism. He sent one signal after another to the Russians that he was more than amenable to doing business with them (think the SALT II treaty, at a ceremony for which he memorably kissed Communist Party chief Leonid Brezhnev on the cheek) -- and then pronounced himself "shocked" at the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. This President Spock would spend hours alone reviewing the minutia of Pentagon budgets and other government "homework" -- all the while angering even his political allies like then House Speaker Tip O'Neill or Senator Ted Kennedy. Unable to get beyond his frosty sense of Spockian logic as to how the world worked, Carter was blindsided by everything from the significance of the Ayatollah Khomeini's rise in Iran to the real reason for American gas lines in a regulated economy.

Over and over again, this Spock-like devotion to "logic" and the world of intellectual intelligence has resulted in tragedy for presidents. It was not, in fact, the practical Lyndon Johnson who devised the disaster that became Vietnam. It was the men he eventually called with a sneer "the Harvards" -- the men with the great intellectual reputations for whom Spockian logic was the lodestar -- who persuaded the common-sense LBJ to fight in Vietnam the way he did. It was the Robert McNamara's and McGeorge Bundy's (the latter a onetime Harvard dean) who were, like a Wilson or Hoover or Carter, so immersed in a world of intellectual logic that they were utterly unable to understand the lack of common sense behind what they were doing. Johnson, alas intimidated because of the elite view of his own education at Southwest Texas State Teachers College, uncharacteristically let himself be carried along. LBJ's friend and fellow Texan, House Speaker Sam Rayburn (who died before LBJ became president) uneasily observed to then Vice President Johnson that he would feel better if the intellectuals advising then-President Kennedy "had run for sheriff just once."

Yet periodically LBJ's Emotional Intelligence surfaced in foreign policy. Asked to depend on the Organization of American States during a crisis in the Dominican Republic, the earthy Johnson snapped in decidedly un-Spockian terms: "The OAS couldn't pour sh-- from a boot if the instructions were written on the heel."

Why is any of this relevant today?

Page: < 12 3 >

topics:
Barack Obama, Jimmy Carter, Star Trek

About the Author

Jeffrey Lord is a former Reagan White House political director and author. He writes from Pennsylvania at jlpa1@aol.com.

Letter to the Editor View all comments (155) | Leave a comment

Robbins Mitchell| 12.15.09 @ 6:24AM

Spock my butt....Barokeydoke is straight out of "Amos 'n' Andy" replete with Sapphire and Mama upstairs and Algonquin J.Calhoun as his AG....and like "Kingfish",the boy is in over his head and constantly trying to pull a hustle on people and ending up playing the doofus more often than not.

locomotivebreath1901| 12.15.09 @ 12:43PM

Wowser.
Bigot much, robbins mitchell??

This "spock" analogy has been done many times before. Why? Because it fits.

I think Mr. Lord did a very good job highlighting how this typecast of Obama has ill-served this administration, to the horrid detriment of this nation, and to the loathsome burden it's placed on our posterity.

Please leave the previous generation's 'blackface' bigotry & prejudice in the trash can of history.
.

David Jack Smith| 12.15.09 @ 2:10PM

Well Spock was supposed to be smart Jim, and that's where part of the Spockbama analogy breaks down, once we get past the mutant ears.

It's pretty clear that rumors of Obama's 'higher intelligence' have been greatly exaggerated.

While he's not sub-par I.Q. dumb, he's certainly not dazzling bright. That's clear everytime he opens his mouth. Whites who can't admit this are clearly racist.

I think we PC know why this is so hard for his adulators to admit. Though that rump is decreasing faster than a fat belly after a tummy tuck

ladisney| 12.15.09 @ 2:30PM

Obama has the skills of a good local TV news reader. He sounds very good while reading a prepared speech but doesn't connect well while speaking extemporaneously. His complete lack of touch was best displayed after the Fort Hood massacre when he spent several minutes going through the PC rote before he addressed the murders.

Add to Mr. Lord's observation a complete self absorption and we have a recipe for disaster.

Christopher Kelleher| 12.15.09 @ 1:01PM

Actually, the Kingfish character was a lot smarter than our President Hussein and he devised his own schemes rather than have a coterie of America-haters hand them to him and point him toward a teleprompter.
Still, Mr. Lord's article is a swing-and-a-miss. Hoover and Wilson were exceptionally bright and logic-driven. Any documents that might prove anything about Obama's intellect, such as college records, are missing in action. We have only his claims to brilliance to go on; but we can trust him on that, right?
Obama, in the words of Thomas Sowell, is merely a glib, sophomoric narcissist.

Alan Brooks| 12.15.09 @ 6:46PM

So who is McCain--
Obie Wan Kenobe? If you can't do better...
"put up or shut up."
You'll probably run Neil Bush for potus in '12, with Mark Sanford as the veep candidate.

stephanie| 12.15.09 @ 6:26AM

Obama has no empathy. The way he announced to the nation the news of the shooting at Ft. Hood gave me chills. This man is devoid of any Emotional Intelligence. If you watched the interview on Sunday with I believe it was 60Mins.
It was like he couldn't believe that the entire populace of the US doesn't agree with him.
He was extremely defensive and combative with the interviewer. I guess his mommy and sister just showered him with adulation during his growing up years. The ones he was with them anyway, until she dumped him on his grandparents. How did we elect a man with such a background? My folks wouldn't have let me "hang out" with someone that had such a "family".
You are the company you keep.
Sorry for the rant, but this guy just stuns me everyday.

DaveS| 12.15.09 @ 6:07PM

A clod, a hack, deaf - and I thought Kenya could turn out someone better.

Karibou Kid| 12.15.09 @ 6:47AM

Obamao is a boy who was never challenged as he grew up. Now he is a case study in narcissistic personality disorder. Hoax and chains is what we'll get from him.

jd| 12.15.09 @ 6:48AM

Likening Obama to Spock?!!!! Maybe I need one more cup of coffee but the premise of this article is wrong, wrong, wrong. He may well be an emotional retard, but there is NOTHING intellectual about Obama period. I cringe when he is characterized as such.

Your Dumb| 11.15.10 @ 3:03PM

There is nothing intellectual about you, what have you don't for this country... Oh nothing so you need to STOP, you are ridiculous and sound stupid. All of you have so much to say but not even one of you who are bad mouthing President Obama have ever been President. You all need to get a grip and think before you open you type something. He is doing a wonderful job of fixing everyone else’s problems like who caused all of this stuff in the first place "BUSH" and those before him. I think you are a very retard, stupid and dumb to even try to act like you know what you are talking about, I have one thing to say and that is you sure we not smart enough to be president now were you, NO NO NO that is what I thought so do everyone a favor and shut up!!!!

I support Obama 100% right or wrong because no one is perfect but he is trying and that is all that matters, Period...

Shamus| 12.15.09 @ 7:00AM

Obama is a sociopath.

CB| 12.15.09 @ 7:05AM

Ok...I'll be the first to say it...."Beam me up NOW Scotty"...

Appleby| 12.15.09 @ 7:17AM

Obama is the avatar of Generation Grabby Baby. This is what you can expect to soon be sitting beside you in your offices, standing behind your counters, and taking your calls: someone whose sole focus is THE SCREEN. This is the first President who fought for the right to carry a Binkie, remember that.

This is a man who does not believe in his own existence until he sees himself on a Screen; he does not even know what he said until he hears it broadcast from The Screen. Every decision he makes, from what to wear, to whom to promote, is crafted for The Screen.

If you want to see where this kind of obsession leads, read Isaac Asimovs book The Naked Sun.

As the real Mr. Spock would say: Fascinating.

TennesseeVolunteer| 12.15.09 @ 7:24AM

Everythng is coming apart for the Boy Wonder. they won't make it until 2010.

E.Patrick Mosman| 12.15.09 @ 7:31AM

Where is there any factual evidence that Obama has a high IQ or wealth of knowledge that would place him in the same comparative position as Wilson, Hoover or even Carter. The facts about Mr. Obama life before politics was summed up in this Charley Rose interview with Tom Brokaw in October 2008 after Mr. Obama had been campaigning for two years.
ROSE: I don't know what Barack Obama's worldview is.
BROKAW: No, I don't, either.
ROSE: I don't know how he really sees where China is.
BROKAW: We don't know a lot about Barack Obama and the universe of his thinking about foreign policy.
ROSE: I don't really know. And do we know anything about the people who are advising him?
BROKAW: Yeah, it's an interesting question.
ROSE: He is principally known through his autobiography and through very aspirational (sic) speeches.
BROKAW: Two of them! I don't know what books he's read.
ROSE: What do we know about the heroes of Barack Obama?
BROKAW: There's a lot about him we don't know."
Apparently in October two of the most respected liberal pundits knew little or nothing about Mr. Obama's past as it was written in invisible ink, no high school records, no college records, no SAT scores,no university records, no GPAs from any school, no written dissertations, the proverbial "pig in a poke". Mr. Obama's written record are two 'memoirs' one rather poorly written and the second more scholarly that some question the authorship. And he had never run for or been elected to a public office. What exactly were his qualification of substance, able to read prepared speeches from a teleprompter?

Rudy| 12.15.09 @ 8:51AM

In a country so devoted to the idea of openness and transparency, I am amazed that the public allows this stealthy, affirmative action type to head the government. Where is the modern-day Daniel Ellsberg who will risk a federal prison term by exposing this man's carefully obscured past?

You don't hide something unless you have something to hide.

Gill O’Teen ✝✡| 12.15.09 @ 11:10AM

Proving that they are not as smart as their hype pretends, both these men supported obummer mmm mmm mmm’s campaign, if I recall correctly.
Gill O’Teen ✝✡
gill.Oteen07041776@gmail.com
Celebrate Galt Day.
Don’t Tread on Me!!

Al Adab| 12.15.09 @ 11:52AM

Gill,
We need to pick a date for Galt Day. A general strike of employers might just get someone's attention. April 15th? July 4th? What might be best?

Gill O’Teen ✝✡| 12.15.09 @ 12:10PM

Al Adab, I have been advocating the first anniversary of the despot-in-chief’s promotion as the most fitting. I will, however, defer to patriotic consensus. Holidays such as July 4th will not work because the idea behind Galt Day is simply for everyone to reduce their taxable income the equivalent of a day’s pay. Since many people are not working that day, another day would get the attention of kon-gress. Nothing but praise will get the attention of the narcissist teleprompter reader. Now that Lieberman has trashed the Constitution in order to promote the kommienist agenda, even next month may be too late. Remember John Galt simply quit the system.
Gill O’Teen ✝✡
gill.Oteen07041776@gmail.com
Celebrate Galt Day 1/20/2010.
Don’t Tread on Me!!

Al Adab| 12.15.09 @ 3:13PM

I was planning to do Jan. 20 as a day of fasting and prayer. Maybe everyone could join in and we could all stay home. It might be interesting to see what happens.

Karibou Kid| 12.15.09 @ 7:37AM

So OK, if obamao is Spock does that make michelle a Klingon or a Wookie?

Crusader| 12.15.09 @ 11:10AM

I always saw her as a sasquatch myself.

stephanie| 12.15.09 @ 1:12PM

Amazon

Rog| 12.15.09 @ 7:38AM

It's hard to say which is worse, attributing the behavior of the current administration to logic or promoting that Regan and Bush allowed themselves to be guided by emotions instead of rational thought processes.

Mattled| 12.15.09 @ 7:38AM

I found it amusing that twice he graded himself a "strong B+".

Excuse me Barry Sotero---how about some real grades from your college days? IF only we had some real journalists bring this up, it would be a field day for the ailing media. Folks are thirsty for some REAL info on the guy a la Tiger Woods. I'm not enjoying the TWoods spectacle---not at all.

I am just bringing up the fact that after two weeks the media has found eleven Woods mistresses, but after two years they can't find one (1) document on our supposed Dear Leader. Or one transgressions (Helloo Vera, where are you?) man or woman.

Mattled| 12.15.09 @ 7:41AM

Marxists aren't smart.

If they were we would be drowning to get into Cuba. And Venezuela. And N. Korea.

And most of all, the USSR would be around today.

Of course I was right all along----Obooby witnessed Reagan man-handling the "mother land" and got into politics. Said it in one of his books Ayers wrote.

I just found that out last week.

He's trying to get the band together again for another gig.

Ret. Marine| 12.15.09 @ 7:44AM

an intellectual you say, horsehockey's. Emotional balance is not a suit of armor, nor is it a quality we can either fix or eliminate from the bolsters of the obamawon.
Hell I think my dog has more sense than this turd world wannabe dictator, at least he knows how to fetch on command. Obama has yet to learn the command to listen when spoken to or ly down and stay when left alone. Yeah I don't thinnk I've had enough coffee to understand the relationship between the "spook and obama models" yet.

Gill O’Teen ✝✡| 12.15.09 @ 11:26AM

I don’t know, he seems pretty down with lyin’ to me.
Gill O’Teen ✝✡
gill.Oteen07041776@gmail.com
Celebrate Galt Day.
Don’t Tread on Me!!

Tom| 12.15.09 @ 12:13PM

You know I just love my Marine family. They clarify things like no other group. I could not have said it better. All Obama knows is what he is told to do. Be fearful of the folks throwing the stick and saying fetch. "Be ever watchful during the times of darkness". And this is one of them.

jack| 12.15.09 @ 7:59AM

The guy is a complete stone cold moron, the Ted Baxter of US politics. It amazes me everyday not only how this imbecile got out of college but how the hell did he get in. It also makes you wonder what is being taught in US colleges.
The first tell to me that Obama was not the sharpest knive in the kitchen was when he said proper tire inflation could offset the lack of offshore drilling in bringing supplies of oil to world markekts. Used properly along with 24/7 airing of Rev Wright rants the country may have been spared from this corrupt lunatic but the knucleheaded McCain agreed with him on tire inflation and refused to used Obamas history against him. Thanks Republican party.

David Jack Smith| 12.15.09 @ 2:18PM

Jack
Has there ever been United States president who rose without trace, like Obama?

Virtually nothing is known about his past apart from what he (sic) writes in his semi-fictional accounts of his life. The media has no interest in going through his dumpsters, too busy in Wasilla still.

I'm not talking about the "birth certificate" -- that's an non-issue and nothing more than a huge distraction from real historical record.

I laughed when the Clinton's produced that third grade report of Obama wanting to be president aged 7.

But you know what, they were on to something, and that's just about the only academic record that had ever been made public.

Big J| 12.15.09 @ 8:06AM

I reject the premise. Remember that Dr. Spock was at least 1/2 human, and the inner struggle that this created was the center piece of his character. Often, the human half won over logic.

Obama is:

A) An America hater. He absolutely despises all that we hold dear. Freedom (and the constitution) are nothing but obstacles to his Marxist agenda.

B) A narcissist. He truly believes that his presence solves all the world's ills. She seas will cease to rise, the world will come to love America once again (they never stopped, by the way), etc. He puts no thought into what he does, he simply is: problem solved.

He is more post turtle than Dr. Spock.

The Bishop| 12.15.09 @ 8:10AM

The initial comment by Robbins Mitchell could be labeled racist-tinged - except I don't see the fallacy in Robbins' analysis. I wholeheartedly agree with all who dismiss the premise of Obama having a Spockian intelligence. He really is a media creation and has nothing to say that hasn't been loaded onto his teleprompter. This is going to be a long four years if we've got this much Obama-fatigue already.

Melvin| 12.15.09 @ 8:22AM

Come on. "The Bishop" "The initial comment by Robbins Mitchell could be labeled racist-tinged"
Just as you have noted on the lower part of your post that the public is getting Obama fatigue, we are also being fatigued with the, "Racist"
innuendos.
For crying out loud it is someone opinion. In the fact that you don't agree with it, that is your business, but please don't swing the, "Racist" card around like a shalaylee we hear enough of that from the government bureaucrats.
Could Robbin made a better choice of words? Sure, but Robbin had the freedom to chose what she posted, and that is what is most important, the freedom to chose what to say.

Howard| 12.15.09 @ 8:37AM

I agree with your observation about several people using "boy", Amos n Andy pejoratives, etc. We can disagree aggressively with Obama's politics and policies. But leave the race stuff out.

Robbins Mitchell| 12.15.09 @ 9:26AM

Robbins is a 'he'..not a 'she'...and is a USAF veteran and a former GOP nominee for Congress here in the 18th District of Texas in Houston....and the only person ever kicked out of the Mensa Society

Gill O’Teen ✝✡| 12.15.09 @ 11:41AM

How on earth does one get kicked out of MENSA? As I recall, there are only two requirements for membership: have an IQ that measured in the top 2% of the population as measured on any recognized standardized test and pay the dues? I qualified for membership by a rather impressive GRE score according to my academic advisor and mailing MENSA a check for a year’s membership. I went to one meeting and was never more bored in my life. Even sleeping through a Sunday sermon, much like obummer mmm mmm mmm did while attending jerry’s hate-mongering church, was more thrilling. I proved that I just might be smarter than the average bear when I did not rejoin after that year was up. But kicked out? How?
Gill O’Teen ✝✡
gill.Oteen07041776@gmail.com
Celebrate Galt Day.
Don’t Tread on Me!!

KyMouse| 12.15.09 @ 12:00PM

Gill, I joined Mensa in the early 1980s and went to a number of local meetings over the next few years. The speakers chosen by a chapter committee were invariably left-of-center or otherwise unacceptable to me (one was scheduled to give an update about the "progress" toward euthanasia and assisted suicide). Most of the folks were Unitarian Universalists or atheists (it can be hard to tell the difference); I am neither. I stopped going to the meetings, and finally didn't renew my annual membership.

The best thing I got out of Mensa was a good job --the boss said she had always wanted to hire someone from Mensa, which I had listed on my resume. Other than that job, membership was a waste of my time and money (back then, I think it was $45 per year).

Al Adab| 12.15.09 @ 12:02PM

Anyone who gets himself "kicked out" of MENSA is OK in my book. Too many of those folks fall into the - all brain no common sense category- it's frightening. One has to adhere to the intellectual line. It's a good thing Gill.

Congratulations to Mr. Mitchell who was also smart enough to do USAF. It sure beats working for a living. As they say the Air Force builds the golf course and the O club and if money is left over they pave the runway. I did my stint AF also so no hard feelings.

ladisney| 12.15.09 @ 2:37PM

That;s what we Naval Aviation types always said, it's good to see the boys in light blue confirm it. :-)

Al Adab| 12.15.09 @ 3:19PM

Always prefered 10,000 ft. of nice wide asphalt to a bouncing arrestor cable myself. :)

Jody| 2.23.10 @ 3:04PM

Wrongo Robbins, you're not the only person ever kicked out of Mensa. If (and that's a big if) you were ever kicked out, it was more a case of your resignation.

JBobs| 12.15.09 @ 8:30AM

No. Regarding emotional IQ, to compare Bush to presidents Reagan and Eisenhower diminishes the latter two greatly. I would contend that Bush was more Spockian than otherwise... don't forget that he was a Yale man. His Texan bona fides were merely transplants.

TW| 12.15.09 @ 8:33AM

Obama is the creation of George Soros who, himself, is a creation of the old Soviet KGB. Everything about Obama has been manufactured for the sole purpose of seizing control of the United States. I would not be surprized to also see a few KGB fingers in that pie as well. If we knew, or had, the full documentatin on Obama, this country would be frightened out of its skin.

Howard| 12.15.09 @ 8:39AM

Pure paranoia. I admit as Kissinger said, that "even paranoid people have enemies". But let's not make Obama and Co. out to be ten feet tall. Just the incompetence displayed by them is reason for optimism.

JimP| 12.15.09 @ 8:38AM

I protest, Jeff. You have done Mr. Spock a disservice. Spock would use logic, which means he would not go statist with a 'Stimulus' he would go Reaganomics to turn the economy around, the same with "Healthcare Reform". Spock would go with the GOP plan and come up with even more free market solutions perhaps. Spock would not do things that do not work and lead to less freedom and shorter life spans. Obama, as has been pointed out already, is a sociopath, IMO. He's not logical in the sense that we all understand.

In closing, I'm not a Trekky, but I did grow up watching the tv show in the '60s.

NeilBJ| 12.15.09 @ 10:21AM

JimP,

I wrote the following before I found your comment. I see that you and I agree.

This is a fascinating essay, but Obama is no Spock. That gives Obama more credit than he deserves.

A truly logical person (you would think) would look at what has worked in the past and institute policies accordingly. No! Obama is an extreme ideologue (which could be defined as one who eschews pragmatism) who is fully aware of what he is doing and that makes him all the more frightening and dangerous.

Dernon Ruton| 12.15.09 @ 8:39AM

Jeffrey Lord has let his metaphor run away with him. Granted, BHO's "emotional intelligence" quotient -- or at least his manifest empathy -- is near zero. In straining to make the analogy, Mr. Lord attributes to King Hussein what would be almost-saving grace, i.e., high intelligence. But the problem is, I see it evidenced nowhere in the King's utterances. BHO doesn't speak the way his books read. (I leave it to the readers of this comment to investigate the persuasive theory that they were ghostwritten by Bill Ayers.) He speaks -- and proposes legislation -- the way his commie masters propagandize. In fact, without a screen, he can barely speak at all. He's, dry, bloodless, calculating, hypercareful, disdainful, affectless except when repressing rage, self-aggrandizing, dismissive, threatening, vindictive ... wait, he's a Harvard lawyer! Who very much dislikes America, by the way. That's a kind of "emotionalism", isn't it? That's why all the scary things at the top of the article. All BHO's actions -- all of them -- are calculated to destroy the American way, and in the name of change you can believe in. And he doesn't care that we know it. That -- and not some too-bad-about-his-tin-ears hyper-intellectualism -- is the Rosetta stone to his personality.

Roger Ross| 12.15.09 @ 8:42AM

If Spock were a real person you'd owe him an appology.

DaveS| 12.15.09 @ 7:01PM

Spock isn't real? I just saw him on blue ray! The 'Spock' comparison is rather goofy. Obama's intelligence is not established. Kerry tried to compare himself with Bush - and Bush beat him in the Army's intelligence test (albeit by one point.) But the Kerry experience then and the Obama mystery now jibe: the Left has to perpetrate a fraud to get their (and Soros's) guy elected.

Linda| 12.15.09 @ 9:01AM

I also disagree w/ the premise. This is mainly because these pseudo-intellectuals aren't thoughtful enough to consider the unintended (and often dangerous) consequences of their grand schemes.

In fact, instead of understanding that our system was put in place by men who were truly geniuses, and who also understood the danger associated with a strong, centralized government, they pursue policies that do not work. I contend that they are more often ideologues who will do what they can to advance their worldview, and damn the consequences. That isn't intellect or IQ. That's just arrogance and stupidity; combined.

Nyfarmer| 12.15.09 @ 9:14AM

When the anvil truly drops (hyperinflation) the 'people' will not follow. This guy thinks he himself can do what needs to be done!

Spock was also First Officer-second in command- and understood his limitations and position. His job was to advise and be a check for the captain. Something necessary in such organizations.

This President has no such check--I doubt it would be tolerated!

Grzmlyk| 12.15.09 @ 10:09AM

Nyfarmer, I couldn't agree more. It flabbergasts me that the current rubric is that we are now in "recovery" (to her credit, Christina Romer yesterday demurred).

We are in the eye of the hurricane - there's a perception that the drunken-sailor world as we know it will continue after its brief and slighly distasteful lapse into uncertainty there for a couple of years.

In fact, the very fabric of America is STILL being torn asunder, and the entire rotten debt/monetary structure is about to collapse.

There CAN be no other outcome; China, Japan, et al aren't going to continue to pay the piper while we dance. And when they pull the plug . . .

Gill O’Teen ✝✡| 12.15.09 @ 11:56AM

Grzmlyk, the drunken sailor comparison is an insult to every one who has ever been a drunken sailor. Last time I checked, for the most part, these brave over-indulgers of adult beverages use their own money. On occasion a friend or a fan might buy them a round or the bartender might offer them one on-the-house, but none of these actions will bankrupt OUR COUNTRY.

Breaking news, Joe Lieberman has been purchased and is prepared to vote in favor of the shackles of obummer mmm mmm mmm-care.

Gill O’Teen ✝✡
gill.Oteen07041776@gmail.com
Celebrate Galt Day.
Don’t Tread on Me!!

JP| 12.15.09 @ 9:17AM

I think Mr Lord's analysis is abt, but only to a degree. Remember, Spock was half human (through his mother). So, in a way, he had an excuse. There is more to our President than being intellectually cool. And I am not all that sure he is as intellectually superior as many believe. Here are other disturbing attributes:

1)Solipsism -This may sound strange; afterall, the President is a politician. And what politician isn't in love with himself? Some would argue that a good dose of armour propre is a first requirement. But President Obama has taken this to new heights. Everything, every speech, and every crisis revolves around him. Even when he gives speeches overseas, he somehow finds a way to appropriate everything to himself. This goes beyond typical narcissism. Certainly it isn't healthy. As a matter of fact, the President's biggest accomplishment outside of winning the Presidency was his authoring 2 autobiographies - not one, but two. His intense interest in himself, and his belief that everyone shares this interest is down right strange.

2)Obama loathes this nation. This is not to say that he is an misanthropic; if that was the case, he would not be in politics. Most of the well known misanthropics (WC Fields, Menckin, Florence King are atracted to the arts and not politics). Perhaps it is the result of being biracial in a nation that is obsessed with race. Maybe his loathing comes from being raised overseas in a 3rd World nation, where anti-Americanism is reflexive -especially the anti-Americanism found in the victimology that surrounds Islam. Who knows? But this was something he had to pick up prior to college. His loathing of Amerika runs much deeper. It is something the Far Left easily recognizes and admires about him. What is strange about this loathing is that it doesn't stem from an aristocratic sense of superiority. As far as the President is concerned, it is quite the opposite. His nation provided him one of the finest educations in the world; security; and upward mobility. No, Obama loathes this nation in much the same way Lennin loathed Czarist Russia.

3)Too much time spent in academia. Yes, most President spent time in the Ivy Towers. But, JFK had outside interests that consumed him (yachting and women), as did Clinton (mainly women). And JFK spent 4 years in the Navy. FDR was a Harvard Man; but FDR was more influenced by his aristocratic WASP peers than by a mere university. And even Jimmy Carter had influences that went beyond academia (the Baptist Church, the Navy, and his farm). President Obama, on the other hand, spent 10 years at elite private schools, which culminated in his Harvard Law degree. What I find interesting is that he never once considered a career in the Ivy Towers. All of his time and money spent on his education came to naught as he selected Community Organizing -something that required little in the way of superior inellectual talents. One wonders if his choice of pursing grad school and later law school just a way to avoid responsibility while padding his CV?

4)Avoiding responsibility. From a decade spent in school, to his time "organizing" and to his elevation to the US Senate, one sees a common thread. President Obama never really accomplished anything of note (unless you count being selected to edit the Harvard Law Review (which is bereft of any writings he may have penned), and authoring 2 autobiographies as accomplishments fit to make one President). He did lecture at Univ of Chicago, spent sometime doing law, and doing goodworks in Chicago's Southside. With his Harvard Law degree alone, Obama could have worked in Wall St, the DOJ, the State Department or any major law firm in the US. But that would have required dreary work and actually accomplishing something. But once he was selected by the Cook County Machine to run for the Illinois State Senate his real career took off. Yet, his 13 year career in politics shown nothing outstanding. And how could it? He never held any office long enough to do anything. He was almost always campaigning. And, like Bill Clinton, President Obama is most at home on the stump talking about his favorite subject - himself. But unlike Obama, Clinton actually enjoys other people.

But now, the President is being held accountable and he doesn't like it. It must be a strange thing for him.

Grzmlyk| 12.15.09 @ 9:42AM

Great post, JP - you stole a lot of my thunder as I was furiously typing.

But one thing - Obama was NOT editor of the Harvard Law review - a position which generally requires serious intellectual heft and hands-on, real-world hard work. No, he was PRESIDENT of the Harvard Law Review - a purely ceremonial title.

The man has never done anything on his own in his life - he's simply propped up by others who are cleverer. He believes in Marxist ideology. His puppetmasters, like Soros and Ayers, are onto the game. He's too damn stupid to figure it out - although he and Michelle don't mind living like KINGS even as they exhort their "subjects" to eschew worldly wealth for the soul-purification of "public service."

He's an affirmative action president, plain and simple. If he were white, he'd never have gone to Columbia, never gone to Harvard, never been elected Senator from Illinois and wouldn't be President today. The closest he'd get to the white house would be chief usher. If he applied himself.

Grzmlyk| 12.15.09 @ 9:34AM

I'm sure someone has already mentioned this, but Spock was half human. If that weren't the case, he wouldn't have referred to Kirk as his friend, as he often did. In fact, Spock was tormented by his emotional half. Yes, he was a Hollywood confection, but a complex and instructive one. "Fascinating," as he never tired of saying.

I believe this article is close to accurate, but it fails to explain how the antiseptic, sterile world of pure intellectualism (as distinct from run-of-the-mill intelligence) invariably congeals into fatuous foolhardiness that can only be characterized as downright stupidity - emotionally, intellectually, practically and morally.

The fact is, the logic these self-worshipping fools labor so strenuously to invent doesn't hold up. Look anywhere you like at the unintended consequences of pure liberalism. FDR's public works programs exacerbated the depression. Price controls lead to shortages. The Great Society created welfare mothers and destroyed the black family, which was once as solid as the rock of Gibralter.

The examples are endless. Healthcare will have the opposite effect its proponents espouse, from rising costs to fewer people actually covered to a marked decline in the number of doctors and the quality of care (and even the examples of Britain and Canada fall upon deaf ears!).

And you can't spend two dollars for every dollar you take in and expect to prosper. Surely an engineer can understand that you can't put 200 lbs onto a beam designed to carry a 100 lb load and expect it not to fail.

Intellectualism is the sole reason America has tossed the Constitution onto the trashheap of history and become the cesspool, the Jihad bait, that it is now. Intellectualism ultimately isn't intelligent at all because it is inherently narcissistic, and invariably turns in on itself. The moment it does that it becomes a reflection of an individual's self and not of the collective reality. It never fails to do so. This is classic hubris.

Additionally, I think Obama is NOT unemotional (I know that's not exactly what this article asserts, but Spock's pure Vulcan relatives were wholly without emotion). In fact, Obama is steeped in resentment and anger. Even a cursory look at his childhood - and his happy assuming of the role of empty vessel/pawn into which ideologues have poured their vitriol - expose an emotionally damaged human being. His reaction to his alienation as a child was classic - to adopt a mein that is coolly detached, and I do believe he has the discipline to have allowed this to imbue his personality (i.e., it's not just "an act" - he really is inaccessable and cold). I have no doubt that he has long since lost touch with his primal emotions.

But that doesn't mean they're not there, influencing his every move as an adult and as president. There is nothing real with Obama - nothing, at least, that can be witnessed by others. There are only layers of masks, of deceit, of postures.

The man is a hopeless loser, an intellectual lightweight and utterly ignorant of history, economics, political realities and a hundred other topics in which one would expect a typical intellectual to be conversant.

Ultimately, he simply does not understand America - or human nature - which are both prerequisites to the exclusive club of liberalism. He has an inkling that he really is an utter phony - and he tamps this down with a comically exaggerated certitude (not unlike Mussolini). In effect, his lack of real confidence (which Reagan had in spades) makes him double down on confidence's cheap knock-offs: Arrogance and conceit.

As a result of his incedibly small world-view (the planet begins and ends only in his mind's eye), he is very dangerous.

And I believe that 67 million voters have a lot to answer for, for they have elevated this non-entity, this emotionally truncated clerk, to the position of most powerful man in the world. Each one of you has a 1/67 millionth share in the most outrageous act of treason ever perpetrated within America's shores.

Dernon Ruton| 12.15.09 @ 12:14PM

Grzmlyk, good post, you're on fire today! I myself have often seen Mussolini in the upward tilt of King Hussein's chin.

Your characterizations are as accurate as they are creepily amusing. (See my own post 12.15.09 @ 8:39AM.) I disagree with you in only one particular.

It's this: he does indeed understand America. Although his lens is very dark, he knows or thinks he knows how to cause us to backbite one another. He would foment class resentments ("'fat cat' bankers"), pit the poor against the rich, the poorer against the richer, the white against the black, everyone against the Jew, the old against the young, the doctor against the patient; the hale against the infirm, the citizen against the alien, soldier against civilian.

If he can create enough friction, he can create -- and then, you should forgive the expression with regard to him, "capitalize" on -- the profound societal, moral, and financial seismic disruptions he seems so rapaciously to desire.

His genuine and profound ignorance of the world -- common among the hyper-educated and those whose educational pedigrees imply great erudite depth -- is manifest. Without the willing support of his less ambitious fellow travellers in Congress, this stunted "clerk" would be of no account, no note, no notice.

Iago, Lady Macbeth, Hamlet's Uncle Claudius, take your pick -- we've got a traducement going on here of Shakespearan proportion.

But, Heaven help the USA, he is in the White House. He knows what he doesn't like, and he knows who -- Marx, Ayers, Wright, Alinsky, et al. -- can help him theorize and then act to sweep it away.

That little bit of knowledge -- combined with an intent he seems every day to evidence -- is indeed a very dangerous thing.

Grzmlyk| 12.15.09 @ 1:41PM

Dernon, I see your point. I think he does understand, to some extent, how to destroy a polity by using classic means of turning people against one another - but then again that is rule number 1 in the liberal playbook - Balkanize the American people by creating victim groups and then pit them against the prevailing (i.e., white Christian) culture.

But he's an outsider, having spent formative years in Indonesia and tucked away in the hinterlands of Hawaii - and of course he carries the classic outsider's bona fides: he's black. Ground zero in the American Victims' funeral train.

He has never known, or participated in, the common American culture. So many totems of Americana are as foreign to him as, I imagine, Chinese cultural totems are to me. I can understand them intellectually, but they carry no weight with me. The don't make me feel a part of something larger.

But I look at both ends of American culture - from the schmaltz of Norman Rockwell to the ingenuous rebellion of Elvis Presley to the cynicism of Madonna to the dominance of the NFL to the cravenness of reality TV, and it's part of a tapestry I may not embrace fully, but one in which I am oriented. Not to mention the larger threads - our Christian heritage, the importance of family, the promise of the now-pilloried "American Dream," the incredible work ethic that built this nation on its shoulders and fed the world.

In short, I believe I understand American Exceptionalism - both its buoyant, optimistic upside and its cautionary, dark underbelly. And I navigate my life toward the upside and avoid the underbelly.

But Obama doesn't embrace the mythos of American Exceptionalism; he embraces the mythos of one who is alienated - Marxism. He reflexively moves toward the dehumanizing, and this is revealed in his odd coldness and his aloof bearing. The incredibly out-of-touch "shout-outs" preceding his address to America after the Hasan massacre.

He may have a cynical understanding of what divides human beings and foments resentment, but that is a universal trait. He knows nothing of what makes America America.

Timothy L. Pennell| 12.15.09 @ 9:35AM

Why do ANY Dictators do what they do? Why does CHAVEZ do what he does? Why has CASTRO done what he's done? Why is MUGABE done what he's doing?
Why would BARAK OBAMA intentionally destroy this Countries' standard of living? Because he BELIEVES the same things as his fellow DICTATORS believe. The POWER belongs to the STATE. And the PEOPLE will BEND THEIR KNEE, or it will be BENT, for them.
SEIG HEIL! SEIG HEIL! SEIG HEIL!

Bob in Western NY| 12.15.09 @ 9:35AM

I got a kick out of Mosman's recapping of the interview between Charlie Rose and Brokaw. What should have been clearly evident to each was beyond them: why vote for someone you don't know anything about.

I never liked this idea of IQ as measuring much of importance. It seems to me that the human mind is so complex, and really designed originally for social interaction to positively affect survival, that measuring the speed at which multiple choice questions on arcain subjects really tells us what we need to know.

I also don't like the use of the term "emotional intelligence." When a General Patton makes a decision to attack, it's not "emotional" in the sense that the frontal lobes are not functioning at a high level. It's that multiple other areas of his brain are talking and providing answers which algebra alone cannot.

Still, the God complex of Wilson, Hoover, and Carter are certainly evident in Obama. Makes a lot of people just shake their heads - but is a real turn on to cultists.

scythe| 12.15.09 @ 9:42AM

Don't make me scream. Logic???? Can a MARXIST BE LOGICAL??? No. He is a SOCIOPATH. He has no connections to human beings save one: HIS ALMIGHTY SELF. What we are seeing is a stone cold fish out of water who can't fake being "human". Can you imagine the strain this man must be under? Trying to appear "normal" under the glare of public scrutiny and the klieg lights of opposition? Makes you almost pity the poor sociopath.

Grant| 12.15.09 @ 9:44AM

The real premise of this piece is that Our Dear Leader et al. are NOT bent on the destruction of life as we know it in these United States. If they are, everything they're doing makes sense.
I'm watching those Gitmo Uighurs. If they get loose, all bets are off.

Doctor Right| 12.15.09 @ 9:59AM

His resume, indeed his entire list of "accomplishments" is nothing but a fraud.

Columbia undergrad? Affirmative action.
Harvard law? Affirmative action.
Presidency? Affirmative action. A white candidate with a similarly hollow resume and dubious personal associations would NEVER have sailed through the nomination process so spectacularly unscathed.

Ditto for his wife at Princeton and Harvard Law, and she knows it, too...This her eternal bitterness at a country that has bent over backwards to provide her a cushy life based on the color of her skin.

He's dumb. And it shows.

SoCon| 12.15.09 @ 1:39PM

As usual, Dr. Right, you hit the nail on the head! If Obama and the missus were so friggin' smart, their University and Law School grades/transcripts would be common knowledge. Liberals are braggarts and the Obamas are no exception: They're both smoke and mirrors.

He is dumb. lol

JCP| 12.15.09 @ 7:45PM

I'll add 1 more tidbit about Obama's Columbia education. He could NOT have gone to Columbia College, the intellectual elitist undergraduate school of Columbia University that everyone thinks of. No one can transfer into that school. One has to enter into that program as a freshman. Obama's 1st yr was at Occidental and he graduated from Columbia in 3yrs. Thus he was a transfer student. So what undergraduate school do transfer students go to at Columbia? The School of General Studies----anyone can get into that school. Think community college admission standards.

scythe| 12.15.09 @ 10:01AM

Grzmlk - Bravo to you. Outstanding commentary.

Grzmlyk| 12.15.09 @ 10:27AM

Thank you scythe.

With respect to the affirmative action angle, Dr. Right makes a point that liberals would do well to consider (but never will, because assuaging their vanity is far more important than dealing with the consequences of their policies):

Affirmative action does no favor to black people. For the blantantly unqualified (both Obamas), it creates a false consciousness that is insidious and toxic. For the blatantly qualified (Clarence Thomas, Thomas Sowell, etc.) is casts a pall of doubt that circumscribes everything they ever do and undermines their power.

In other words, liberals have "the black community" (an ODIOUS liberal phrase) right where they want them.

jd| 12.15.09 @ 10:32AM

Once again, good posts. I so thoroughly enjoy reading your commentaries, I just hope you stay grounded and don't let your head swell too much with all the accolades you receive! :)

Grzmlyk| 12.15.09 @ 11:22AM

Fortunately, I never have to wait more than a couple minutes to be reminded how challenged I am in so many areas!

MarkS- Jupiter FL| 12.15.09 @ 10:17AM

Right on, Dr. Right. In fact, as I said throughout '08, "if a white man with Obama's resume ran he wouldn't get the time of day and I can prove it. His name is John Edwards". A lawyer, pretty boy and half-term senator who ran on basically the same hopin' 'n changin' schtick, tinged with a more pronounced flavoring of class envy, who didn't even garner more than 5-10% of Democratic primary votes.

Bob Miller| 12.15.09 @ 10:21AM

Maybe his real secret is that he was born or synthesized on another planet.

Al Adab| 12.15.09 @ 10:25AM

Reagan had it right, it's not that this President is dumb, it's that he knows so much that isn't true.

His Faith, and that of the entire Left, is based on false premises. That they make policy based on that Faith rather than on fact or Principle (heaven forbid) is the great danger to our Republic.

As long as central planning lies at the center of their Faith, freedon has reason to fear.

davelnaf| 12.15.09 @ 10:41AM

Obama’s self-confident academic worldview is fairly prevalent in society and we hear opinions from this quarter (the Old Media) often enough to be familiar with its point of view; but it still irritates and in some cases angers us to hear or read such nonsense knowing that it lacks a commonsense and practical grounding in the way the world really works. And we are more than doubly angered when we hear such nonsense from the nation’s commander-in-chief. So far, the commonsense approach has eluded Obama and he has failed in a very fundamental way to understand what the American people expect from their president. If he continues down this road he will lead his party into the political wilderness.

+RJH Florida| 12.15.09 @ 11:02AM

I have seen absolutely no evidence of a high IQ in this empty suit. Where are the academic records? Why hide them? He certainly has not demonstrated a high IQ with his actions or teleprompter speeches...quite the opposite when he is off the teleprompter. Everything about this "man" is manufactured.

Pecos Pete| 12.15.09 @ 11:09AM

I never thought I would say this: The TAS Comment section is now more interesting and thoughtful than the letters to the editor.

This thread is outstanding.

Thanks to all contributors and particularly to Grzmlk.

SoCon| 12.15.09 @ 1:41PM

Always pays to keep an open mind.

Shillelagh| 12.15.09 @ 11:27AM

Oy Melvin,never trust anybody with two last names.(Or is it first names?)

Road Kill| 12.15.09 @ 11:29AM

"Mr. Scotty! I need more power! There's a Klingon debt ceiling ahead!"

"Aye captain, I'm running the treasury printing presses as fast as they can. They canno' last much longer."

Emanuelle Goldstein| 12.15.09 @ 11:54AM

Barry wishes that he was as smart as Spock, but he his neither brilliant nor logical. What he (and his minions) lack is the ability to put themselves in other people's shoes. He is an utter narcissist with an inability for self-reflection. He can't even ask himself if the Queen really wants an iPod containing his speeches or if Gordon Brown likes American cinema or whether the DVDs would work in Britain. I agree that he lacks emotional intelligence but logic has nothing to do with it... it's all about Barry.

Franklin| 12.15.09 @ 11:56AM

No, no, no! Fictional Mr. Spock (not Dr. - that was a real person) had true intellegence and logic. Obama is also fictional playing a role as an intellegent and logical man.

Obama has no true intellegence or logic. He is an average or maybe below average man who let himself be dressed up in a costume to fool America.

Akaky| 12.15.09 @ 12:06PM

It is a vile and vicious calumny to compare the former junior Senator from Illinois to the outstanding Mr. Spock, when anyone with a logical bone in their bodies knows that the former junior Senator is, in fact, Barney Fife with a better wardrobe (you gotta give him that, he dresses sharp)

SoCon| 12.15.09 @ 1:42PM

LOL!

dsayne| 12.15.09 @ 12:20PM

The comments in this section ultimately have more insight than the article itself. While the premise of the aritcle has some validity, the example used is wrong. Obama is not Spock. Spock had a healthy dose of leadership ability and, dare we say it, intuition. The character of Spock was interesting precisely because he WAS emotional. He was an emotional being constantly holding his emotions in check by strenuously exercising logic, occasionally to his own detriment. In fact, he demonstrated on several occasions the ability to base his decision on a combination of logic and emotion. Spock recognized, mastered, and consequently utilized his emotional nature. Obama is not Spock.

Data, on the other hand, was an interesting character because he was the opposite of Spock. A logical being, aware of his lack of emotions, who constantly strove to understand and, in fact, acquire an emotional nature in order to better himself. He recognized his limitations and sought the councel of others who also recognized his limitations. Obama is not Data.

No, Obama is Tuvok, a character who truly dislikes his own emotional nature, and is unable to consciously face up to that fact. He is a weak individual, functioning within a facade of faulty logic based on irrational principles. He finds himself in a position of authority to which he is completely unsuited. He is subconsiously aware of this, yet unable to confront his own shortcomings. Consequently, he is filled with hostility towards himself, but even moreso toward everyone else, and constrains this animosity behind a cold, stiff personality barrier. Obama is Tuvok; cool, aloof, sententious, sullen, hard and brittle. Obama's fragile and thin veneer of the affable, composed, confidant superior is flaking away. What is revealed is Tuvok. It is difficult to describe his characteristics because he is so completely devoid of any true substance. There is very little self, only decoration. He is empty, but he doesn't realize it. The man is bland and boring. It's pathetic that we have to resort to pop sci-fi characters to analyze him.

Michelle is Wayne Brady in drag, by the way.

LarryK| 12.15.09 @ 12:40PM

Jimmy Carter could even be a pimple on Spock's @ss.

Grzmlyk| 12.15.09 @ 12:45PM

There are some days where I feel like I'm the only one who sees through Obama while my quotidian peers and colleagues smile their shiny-happy smiles and polish their Obama/Biden '08 bumper stickers.

But there are also days like today, in which, looking over these comments, I realize I am not alone.

Thank god.

"Dammit Jim, I'm a doctor, not a vassal of The State!"

james wilson| 12.15.09 @ 12:48PM

Whatever Spock was, he was not a Marxist. No Red has ever had an emotional intelligence. That is why they love people in groups of one million and more.

Spike| 12.15.09 @ 1:08PM

"Why would a president do the following? "
Because he and his wife hate this Country and want to bring it down. He is muslim and he sides with the Muslims..Just like he says he his shit book..Horseshit of my Father "When the shit hits the fan ,I'll stand with the Muslims"

Ron| 12.15.09 @ 1:11PM

he is the quintessential Harvard empty suit. many of us have had the extreme displeasure to have met them and worse still work with them. by virtue of being selected by an "elite" institution, they believe that what they think and say is all the could possibly thought of or said. nothing enrages them more than being questioned critically. in business (where there are many) they combine the ingredients for the deadliest of cocktails - arrogance and ignorance. for anglophiles they compare to the oxford/cambridge axis - think upperclass twit from monty python.

Frank Marschino| 12.15.09 @ 1:28PM

B.O. not only gave himself a B+, but a "good, solid" B+. This guy's narcissism shows no bounds. Nevermind that his approval rating has dropped 35 points within his first year. Added to his delusion is the fact he is surrounded by fellow Alinskyites....be afraid, be VERY AFRAID!

Ros| 12.15.09 @ 1:52PM

Nope, I reject the Spock analogy. Spock was never wrong about his facts. Obama tries to project the superior intellect quality, but that is a facade that is just false. You would have us believe that Obama/Spock is factually correct but emotionally wrong. He is just wrong. Period.

ares| 12.15.09 @ 1:58PM

The covert Obama political blueprint?:

http://www.newenglishreview.or.....c_id/48709

Margie| 12.15.09 @ 2:04PM

As the great Shirley Temple Black used to say when she was a child star~ "Oh my goodness!" (I'm reading her book "Child Star" right now & it's great btw),
Great posts!
I couldn't possibly add anything more except to say~~ we can only hope that there are millions more that feel the way that we do out there and are ready to vote them all out, starting with 2010.
Onward!

gunslinger| 12.15.09 @ 2:15PM

Actually, I think the better example of the type is the character Dr. Temperance Brennan on the TV show "Bones".

Tim| 12.15.09 @ 2:41PM

Following the photo shop and the title, the article was anti-climactic.

Mattled| 12.15.09 @ 3:27PM

"Space Balls" was on over the weekend.

Obooma is more like Dark Helmet, Rick Moranis' character.

philip martin| 12.15.09 @ 7:19PM

I knew the day would come that I would regret not watching StarTrek 40 years ago. This is the day. Dark Helmet I get.

Liberal Reader| 12.15.09 @ 4:33PM

O.K., Mr. Lord. Fair enough. Your analysis is reasonable, and you may well have identified a weakness of Obama's. If Cheney can be compared to Darth Vader, I see no reason Obama can't be compared to Mr. Spok.

But I wonder about some of the offenses you accuse Obama of committing. If Obama is a little light on emotional intelligence, is your brand of conservatism a little too emotional? Is the emphasis of fear and the delight in revenge a way to a virtuous society?

You mention Obama's tours abroad. Your critique has merit, and I wish the president would just stay here and do his job for a while. But were these trips primarily about "apologizing" for America. If you get ALL your news on Sarah's facebook page or on Sean Hannity's nightly show, I can see how you'd form that view. But all you need to do is watch or read that actual speeches he gave to know there was more to them than apologizing.

The health care reform effort does get scary when refracted through the hysteria of media, but I don't think there's anything Obama could have done about that.

The trial of KSM in New York City seems to me much less cause for alarm and hysteria than it has been in the Age of Beck. I think reasonable people can disagree on this one.

At first, I thought the president was right to try him in NYC. I've been persuaded that it's not such a good idea. Not for the hand-wringing, nervous-Nelly reasons usually cited, but because I think it sets a bad precedent for civil rights in the judicial system. If the government can water board KSM and then claim to give him a fair trial, why can't the government water board -- oh, I don't know -- me, or you, for example, just to find out if we have knowledge of any criminal activity?

Obama may be a brainy Spok, but after 8 years of government-by-gut-feeling, perhaps the body politic is getting something it wants and needs from him. The genius of the American electorate has served us well thus far.

SoCon| 12.15.09 @ 6:43PM

The moron speaks!!

LR/Jeremiah, go away--you're so yesterday, Axelrod troll. Yawn.

Ret. Marine| 12.15.09 @ 7:52PM

" the trial of KSM in New York City seems to me much less cause for alarm and hysteria that it has been in the Age of Beck. I think reasonable people can disagree on this one."
Really, hysteria in the Age of Beck?, alarm? Have you ever watched his program. It appears not, because I have been following this man's opinion for years now and still have not found anything he say's thats remoltely hysteriacal. Just the facts mame, just the facts. I wonder why folks like you can make a drive-by accusation such as this and not be called on it.
I don't think the trial of KSM will lead to anything new regarding his guilt, he has already staked claim to be the conductor on this destruction and killing train. Why go through the trial if there is some doubt of his guilt? I think most people can agree on this, don't you?
You pen as though you have not given much thought to the ramification and the precesendence this trial will set. So tell me again how stupid G.W. was for keeping these animals locked up away from civilized decent human beings? and now you have no problem with these United States going on trial for defending ourselves? and at the same time think We the People have an open ended financial tree some place out there just dropping the demero's at will. I believe We the People have already spent into the hundreds of millions to upgrade the facilities at GITMO and I can not remember any precedense set for any war criminal being afforded class 3 trial, again added debt to the tree of liberty, let alone this early into the war. He should remain in GITMO throughout the duration of this War on Terrorism. His actions are no different from that of the Germans and Jap's and please don't make the remark that somehow we are different and all that bull in your response. We are different only in the area that we don't put the lives of civilians and non-combatants in the cross hairs of history to make a political point, and they damn sure don't have nor will they ever have any sympothy for you or the life you lead when it comes time to conquer you, be-head you or order yourself up to submission to a false god.

J.C.Eaton| 12.15.09 @ 4:47PM

Sorry. I don't see Obama as Spock.More like Eddie Haskell. Those annoying, cloying, empty-headed syruppy verbal confections he lobbed all over Mr. and Mrs. Cleaverbetter describe his silly utterances for me. Eddie and Obama share[d] what so many arrested development adolescents exhibit: a fabulous inability to understand everything they know. At least Eddie eventually grew up. Best,

Radioman 777| 12.15.09 @ 5:29PM

I don't think Obama is all that bright. Moreover, he lacks certain basic things that most of us have, empathy, for one, as mentioned by others. His emotions seem to center around himself and don't extend to others. How else could he listen to testimony about babies that survived abortion and then were left to die with no emotion whatsoever. If you pay attention to his eyes, they more resemble a sharks, rather than a human being, soulless, emotionless, utterly devoid of feeling. I believe him to be an empty vessel, at least where a human soul is concerned. Either that, or he's suffering some sort of mental illness (several could fit him).

Liberal Reader| 12.15.09 @ 11:39PM

He doesn't have "empathy"?

Wait .. I thought "real Americans" didn't go in for that whole empathy thing.

Radioman --

If you were to temper your commentary, you'd sound smarter. It's a mysterious principle of rhetoric. Obama is a shark? Well, O.K. You're free to hold your opinion. But life is way too short to take that sort of thing seriously.

Radioman 777| 12.16.09 @ 1:09AM

You probably read the parable of the mustard seed and thought that a man was a mustard seed. Of course, you might not have read the Bible, or any other significant literature (romance novels and Maureen Dowd columns don't count). From all your other inane babblings here on this forum, it appears you learned English but not the logic behind it. By the way, where did you get the idea that real Americans don't have empathy? Yet another specialty of the left, twisting and misrepresenting things. But, that's the stock-in-trade of leftists, not truth, not absolutes, nothing except a twisted view of the world; a sort of infantile thought process brought about by a failure to reconcile reality with failed utopianism.

Of course, I'm simply wasting valuable bits even bothering to address your clearly idiotic retort, but somebody had to do it.

VBMax| 12.15.09 @ 7:30PM

Definiton of Intelligence: the ability to pose and resolve problems relating to survival...
It Ain't got much to do with book learnin'.

Liberal Reader| 12.15.09 @ 11:42PM

Well.... Actually, book learning can be pretty important.

"Common sense" doesn't tell you how to land men on the moon. Because of people like YOU and Palin and Beck and all the know-nothings, the educated elites are more and more going to be found abroad, but there are -- thank God -- still some in America.

Memento Mori| 12.16.09 @ 2:55PM

Dear "Liberal Reader",

As an elitely educated American I am puzzled by your fear that we are going to move overseas to avoid having to live with conservatives like Beck and Palin.

You need to learn how to live a life full of undaunted courage, not pusillanimous omphaloskepsis.

SoCon| 12.16.09 @ 4:25PM

Skyrocketing unemployment and crushing national debt: Gifts from our illustrious "Elite." PLEASE! Move to Europe--it's where you Marxists belong!

I can only dream.

SoCon| 12.16.09 @ 4:28PM

My comment was meant for our in-house moron, LibReader the Axelrod troll.

Michael Tomlinson| 12.15.09 @ 8:05PM

Obama! Show me the GRADES!!!!

The 4 most important words in the US -- Impeach and Remove Obama!

BD57| 12.15.09 @ 8:09PM

"Lack of Emotional Intelligence" = narcissist

I have experience with the type; lousy in any kind of relationship, including "leadership"

brown| 3.4.10 @ 3:50AM

On almost all issues Obama seems to be completely out of step with the prevailing views of the American people. I think it ought to be an especially troubling sign for President Obama that the majority of people believe his decisions have been bad for the country. Frankly speaking I suggest that President Obama and many other politicians ought to rethink their approach to government. article

a wyatt man| 12.15.09 @ 9:55PM

I honestly think Obama is more "wooden" than Al Gore and that's saying something.

Obama has absolutely no depth or sophistication whatsoever. He can't even give his own opinion on a simple topic....He has to wait to check the opinion of his handlers prior to answering just about any query.

I would be surprised if Obama can even write a decent sentence that is grammatically correct (of course I realize this is a cultural problem in many regions of the U.S. .....I was blessed to attend public elementary and high schools during the late 1960s and 1970s and my school district did a good job of teaching English composition and proper grammar).

UpChuck.Liberals| 12.15.09 @ 11:34PM

I've run into Obama's type before. They THINK they're superior. They, on a good day, are somewhat equal. Their views are narrower than a piece of string.

Obama can't write. Some of his writings came out several months ago, strangely they disappeared faster than they came up. My grandson writes better than he does.

Where are his transcripts, his history, his anything? Heck how about a Birth Certificate?

There was a major discussion if McCain was a US Citizen because he was born on a military base outside the USA. But not one lick of discussion about the current POTUS. What is he afraid of? Perhaps the lies that have been his life? Or is he simply above it all?

Granny Jan| 12.16.09 @ 12:39AM

I've been studing BHO since forever. There are 2 facts that will put things in perspective. Bill Ayers wrote most of Dreams. That's the easy one. The one that is a secret: Obama is/was gay. That's what's he's hiding besides his grades.

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Andie| 12.16.09 @ 4:25AM

I'm curious just how many highly intelligent people does this author know?
Dr Spock would NEVER be able to practice law, or be a politician. If you've ever been in academia, you ought to know that the president of an institution such as university is more of a politician than a scientist.
Dr Spock would be unable to lie deliberately to deceive people.
Obama is dumb, all right, but trust me, I don't know any highly intelligent or logical person - and I do know quite a number - who doesn't see through him...
As the matter of fact, those highly intelligent people - some scarily Dr Spocks themselves with high IQ low EQ combinations - are conservatives.
Do you know why?
For a highly intelligent person communism doesn't make sense.
Conservatism does.
There of course are exceptions, and they all work in academia. People who spend most of their lives in the wonderful world of theoretical thinking and never have to hold a real job with real responsibilities never grow up. Their perception of reality is of a twelve years old kid.
But I would say, even from those... the cream, the ultimately logical people like physicists and mathematicians are exceptions.
When you apply logic to numbers, you see that turning minus into plus (erase deficit) requires SOMETHING, such as selling something to someone. Printing monopoly money won't do the trick.
Trust me, Dr Spock would know that. He had his way with numbers. Now show me a lawyer who has the brains to pass a level three calculus exam... And now check the resumes of those senators and you'll see how many rational thinkers are sitting there.
And please, do not mention economists. I'm one with solid mathematics background, and 999 out of 1000 would never make it to the second year as math students in college.

Jim O'Brien| 12.16.09 @ 6:27AM

How to describe Obama? Well, these words come to mind: lies, dishonesty, ignorance, socialism, arrogance, treason.
Some might wonder about "treason", but it is evident from his giving the 9/11 planners a show trial in the U.S., with all the rights of United States citizens. It is evident in his support of the terrorists versus Israel, and his obvious disgust with America's international track record. He has nothing but contempt for America's history of protecting freedom around the world.

Gerald Stephens| 12.16.09 @ 10:38AM

NO CONTEST...

He is stupid. Matter of fact I can not think of a single pejorative that he is not.

That was simple -now for something a bit more challenging.

Read...'Constitutional "Homeland Security" Volume 1: The Nation in Arms: Edwin Vieira, Jr Ph.D., J.D (Harvard), Constitutional scholar. It is available from the Committees of Safety.org

WOW(+)

Gerald Stephens
Hartford, CT

Charles Wolfe| 12.16.09 @ 11:15AM

Fascinating as Spock would say.

I have been and will continue to be a devoted fan of the original star trek series. I am also considered to be a pioneer and expert in the field of emotional intelligence. So of course I recognize that anything that I might say about the President will immediately polarize most people who have responded to this blog so I will avoid sharing my thoughts about the President and instead ask what do we think we want from our President. Are we really looking for Captain Kirk? My view of the characters, which I presented in a the first ever European Conference on emotional intelligence, is that Spock represented analytic intelligence on the show, while Dr. McCoy was always highly emotional. Captain Kirk was the blended leader that represented the combination of analytic intelligence and emotional intelligence often in dramatic fashion. What we also know about Captain Kirk is that he was often at odds with the Federation Bureaucracy. Could he have been a successful President? Would we prefer Jean Luc Picard who seemed to have less emotion and more analysis when he made decisions? What characteristics or competencies should we be seeking in the ideal President for our current situation? I once was at a meeting with a former presidental advisor and asked him if he were recruiting for President what criteria would he consider critical or key for successful performance. He said something interesting -what many people think is we need some kind of saint but what we actually need is some kind of horse trader. Someone that get trades done through the art of compromise. I am not sure about whether that is the most important competency but it is telling. What do you all think is important and is it represented by any of the Star Trek captains or officers that many of you seem to be familiar with?

Ken Roberts| 12.16.09 @ 1:35PM

I disagree with the lack of emotion , what we have is a teenager in an adult body and he has been doped on Cocaine so much he has no reality left in his soul. Look at his trips he took in New York with his teen age pal after they returned from Pakistan more likely with a load of drugs, and the cavorting with the devil all the while partaking and party after party. Emotions yes I feel he has those, but he does lack intelligent thinking.

Joe B| 12.16.09 @ 7:32PM

Obama is a Manchurian Candidate.

And he's clueless.

Yosemeti Sam| 12.17.09 @ 12:17AM

Not Spock - demonstrable schlock!

At warp speed.

Back to Basics| 12.17.09 @ 12:57AM

He's no Spock! Lord is another conservative writer who cannot hit the nail on the head. Obam is angry and envious at what he perceives as unjust and even unearned white privelege and advantage. He probably beleives the canard that America became great soley on the backs of hard working slaves. Marxism finds it's way into a politcial system and a country largely through envy. Obam is envious and is taking us down a Marxist road. All the emotional tone-deafness stems from this hatred and envy and his pushing of health-care, cap-and-trade etc. are just interim tools to be used to get us under full Marxist control. To many conservative writers; stop giving this guy the benefit of the doubt.

Frosty| 12.17.09 @ 1:27AM

I agree--Obama and Michelle are both full of rage. Nice.

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