Yes, George Bush Is An Idiot
MSNBC’s Joe Scarborough has been getting a lot of attention for his recent piece that asked the question “Is Bush an ‘Idiot’?” (clip here). There’s another excellent post here that answers the question in the affirmative. If you Google the phrase George Bush idiot you get over 8 million results. He’s an easy target but lately I’ve been pushing back when people dismiss him with a comment along these lines.
Don’t get me wrong - I’m not defending him. Dubya will go down in history as our worst and stupidest president. He’s a war criminal and should die in prison. But it’s too easy to call him an idiot.
The ironic thing about Dubya is that he’s made me realize that the President isn’t really that important. What’s important is the Executive Branch. Sure, I’d prefer to have brilliant presidents who are students of history, are intellectually curious, who take politics seriously. But even the best President depends on advisors and staff. So if you consider the President not the single most powerful person in the US but rather the Executive Branch’s most senior spokesperson, then we could get by with a personable, articulate President who looks good on TV, but has no real power and defers to the judgement of a White House team of experts that make up his advisors, cabinet, and staff.
That was clearly the plan for Dubya, but unfortunately he didn’t work out as well as they’d hoped - he’s what happens when you take that approach to its absurd extreme. He makes a fool of himself nearly every time he goes off-script. His swagger and his sneer betray his true self.
So is he an idiot? Yes and no. Clearly no if you take the question literally - he’s not stupid. Even given the special treatment that he must have received as a son of privilege while in college, he did attend and he did graduate. But it’s not a literal question - it’s a relative one. Given that we’re not really asking if he’s an idiot compared to the general population but rather in comparison to other Presidents and world leaders, then yes, he’s clearly in the single-digit percentiles for intelligence and capability.
