Still, as historian Michael Beschloss pronounced the day after his election, hes probably the smartest guy ever to become president. Naturally, Obama shares this assessment. As he assured us five years ago, I know more about policies on any particular issue than my policy directors. Well, apart from his signature health-care policy. Thats a mystery to him. I was not informed directly that the website would not be working, he told us. The buck stops with something called the executive branch, which is apparently nothing to do with him. As evidence that he was entirely out of the loop, he offered this:
Had I been I informed, I wouldnt be going out saying, Boy, this is going to be great. You know, Im accused of a lot of things, but I dont think Im stupid enough to go around saying, This is going to be like shopping on Amazon or Travelocity, a week before the website opens, if I thought that it wasnt going to work.
Ooooo-kay. So, if I follow correctly, the smartest president ever is not smart enough to ensure that his website works; hes not smart enough to inquire of others as to whether his website works; hes not smart enough to check that his website works before he goes out and tells people what a great website experience theyre in for. But he is smart enough to know that hes not stupid enough to go around bragging about how well it works if hed already been informed that it doesnt work. So hes smart enough to know that if hed known what he didnt know hed know enough not to let it be known that he knew nothing. The countrys in the very best of hands.
Michael Beschloss is right: This is what it means to be smart in a neo-monarchical America. Obama spake, and it shall be so. And, if it turns out not to be so, why pick on him? He talks a good Royal Proclamation; why get hung up on details? 
|
