For a smart man, President Obama professes to know very little

Maybe all the hype about how smart he is was just that: hype.

I have always thought that he was not as smart as he's made out to be. What he's got going is that he talks like an academic. He's very comfortable with that kind of detached, abstract, polysyllabic language and attitude, and to other's of an academic bent, that signifies "one of us."

And of course, if he's an academic, he must be smart, right? Yeah, if you believe that, you might want to ask someone like me, who worked in academia for a number of years without being an academic. Most academics know a tremendous amount about a very narrow subject area, and are pretty clueless about everything else. But they've got that Ph.D. and that means their brains are academy-approved.

I will say Reagan, said it too, but about less scandals, and as it turned out may have had Alzheimer's.
Both were extremely charismatic, and great speakers if you fed them the lines to say.
However, with Obama we know there were a lot of White house meetings with the IRS person in charge of the scandal, before it all came to light. So I'll give him maybe he didn't know about one or two of the others, but sorry not all the scandals.

Smart like a fox, maybe, thinking that saying "I didn't know" will mean that he won't be blamed.

The problem is, it is his job to know these things. By denying knowledge, he makes himself look incompetent. Even if he didn't know, that's what he has a staff for, and hence his staff is incompetent.

It's no wonder our allies are busy distancing themselves from us.

While it's difficult to be on top of everything that's going on in a large organization, anyone running that large organization who repeatedly says "I didn't know that was going on" needs to resign and/or fire his entire senior staff.

By the way, being on top of the things going on in a large organization is the top executive's job. It's why he gets paid so much.

The IRS is targeting the Democrats' political opponents. The ATF is selling guns to drug gangs in Mexico. The US ambassador is killed while the State Department officials tasked with keeping him safe fret over the acceptable level of force that can be used. The Justice Department is seizing phone records of journalists and political opponents. The NSA is tapping the phones of foreign leaders. The Justice Department is investigating the head of the CIA for potentially security-compromising e-mails. The HHS roll-out of healthcare.gov was untested and full of foreseeable "glitches" thanks to political considerations and cronyism in the contract award process.

And the president was out of the loop for every one of these things his own administration was doing?

"I didn't know" is getting old and lame and plausible deniability is starting to look an awful lot like incompetence.

And hypocrisy. The Democrats would never have accepted so many "I don't knows" for so many scandals under Reagan or Bush - yet the entire party wants you to believe that Obama has so much going on inside his brilliant brain that he cannot stoop to managing the affairs of his own administration.

the blind leading the blind

I will say Reagan, said it too, but about less scandals, and as it turned out may have had Alzheimer's.
Both were extremely charismatic, and great speakers if you fed them the lines to say.

Yeah, but Reagan had a) executive experience and b) wrote his own talking points (early on at least). By 2nd term, you have a point though.

or the old favorite that seems appropriate:

There are known knowns; there are things we know that we know.
There are known unknowns; that is to say, there are things that we now know we don't know.
But there are also unknown unknowns – there are things we do not know we don't know

Yeah, but Reagan had a) executive experience and b) wrote his own talking points (early on at least).

As we've learned from Obama's presidency, some prior executive experience is vitally important in a president.

Reagan had experience dealing with a legislature and an opposing party. Obama came to the presidency from the Democrat-dominated Chicago wards, the Democrat-dominated Illinois state senate, and a short stint in a US Congress dominated by the Democrats. He never had to deal with opposition to his ideas and ideals.

Reagan also had a political philosophy honed by experience. Obama brought his philosophy into the crucible of national politics without ever subjecting it to rigorous debate (he avoided the regular Friday professors' round table lunch at UC) or actual experience implementing it or publication or any other way his philosophy might have encountered anything less than a receptive audience. He reacts badly when his political philosophy is criticized or objected to.

I think Valerie Jarrett is in charge of making the actual decisions and keeping POTUS in the dark. Too bad she wasn't elected to run the country.

http://www.bizpacreview.com/2013/10/28/the-unspoken-wh-rule-dont-cross-valerie-jarrett-86103

I've got a friend from college who works as a Democratic senate staffer and from what she's told me, it's entirely possible that he doesn't know these things. Apparently the talk of President Obama being aloof and 'professorial' is a polite way of acknowledging that he's very disengaged and lacks practical policy skills. He didn't come to office with any relevant background, which is why he gets so frustrated and prefers to campaign and go on vacations. He's apparently taken more vacations than the last 10 presidents combined or something - it's something people joke about in Washington.

I feel like we are constantly being told to look in the other direction. Something big happens: Benghazi, NSA is tapping the phones, Obamacare is making those who pay for insurance lose their insurance so they have to enroll in the new system... and everytime something happens we get the run-around, "nobody knew this would happen, it's not our fault." And after a while something else happens so we take our consentration away from the last scandal and focus on the new one, without recieving any answers to the last and without any repercussions.

Joe J and Astra; Reagan also hired (for his cabinet) smart people, he knew he didn't have all the answers so he surrounded him self with people who did.

Reagan also stuck to his beliefs and didn't decide what position to take because a poll told him so. He was a man of integrity. Now there were things that happened during his presidential terms; but, I think most people believed that Reagan didn't know as he delegated so much to others. (such voter belief in the guy drove the left mad, just plain mad!)

Reagan also didn't throw people under the bus when it suited him. Folks wanted to work for Reagan because he was Reagan, not just because he was the President. I'm not so sure that can be said of those working in the Obama administration - how many are there because they truly believe in Obama or because they got offered a gig at the White house? And how many others turned down the opportunity of a lifetime because it would be working for Obama? I suspect that we will never really know the answers to these questions.

As for Obama knowing most of what happens . . . On the one hand he comes across as a know-it-all and those kinds are usually micromanagers who stick their noses into everything. But, on the other hand he seems to be nothing but an empty suit; one who usually knows nothing but seems to be "in charge." So, I'm leaning more towards the know-it-all micromanager who doesn't know shit but is aware of everything.

I have a feeling that both images are intentional so that he can get away with the crap he gets away with. God, I would love a news media that did its job and vetted this jerks before they were elected. Hell, In Obama's case I would love for a press to do its job even after he was elected. (I watched the 60 minutes story about Benghazi the other night, and I don't recall them mentioning Obama's name even once. It was as if he didn't even exist in that news story)

Just Google "Obama Unaware" and you will get over 80,000 hits. Here is a non-duplicate sampling from just the first 40 pages:

Report: President Obama unaware of spying
Sebelius: Obama Unaware Of Website Woes Before Launch
President Obama: Unaware that Benghazi Survivors Were Threatened
Obama "unaware" of aunts immigration status.
Obama unaware of GI Bill? - Armchair General and HistoryNet
Is It Just Me Or Is Obama "unaware"
Obama Unaware of NSA? Is he in control or is someone else?
Video: Floyd Brown: It Is Unbelievable Obama Unaware Of “Born In ...
Obama “Unaware” Of The Tea Parties
Obama Unaware 0f Millions of Tea Party Protesters
Blago judge: Obama unaware of any seat swap bid Hatch: 'Hard to Believe' Obama Unaware of IRS Targeting
Obama “unaware” of Benghazi whistleblowers
White House: Obama unaware of jobs offer in Colo.
Illegal Immigrants freed; Obama unaware
Gentoo Forums :: View topic - Obama, unaware of Xmas traditions
Carney: Obama "unaware" of his Justice Dept. monitoring AP phones
News Krauthammer Not Surprised Obama Unaware of Shovel-Ready...
Obama unaware of the Seperation of Powers clause in the ...
Obama: Unaware Of Investment Conflicts
Obama unaware of threats against whistleblowers
Dunce Obama Unaware Global Warming 12.5K Yrs Old
Obama unaware of backroom deal, White House says
Is Obama Unaware That College Football Has Had a Title Game for...
Adviser: Obama unaware of IRS' Tea Party targets
Obama unaware of crisis, Ryan thinks
Obama Unaware of Gag Order on Benghazi Survivors?
Obama Unaware of State of the Art Portable Classrooms
Obama unaware of backroom deal, White House says
Obama unaware of governor's alleged corruption –
Obama. Unaware that his microphone was still on
W.H.: Obama unaware of Libya requests
Strangely, Obama unaware of details on #Gosnell or #Benghazi
White House: Biden and Obama unaware of #Libya security

But I love how Obama is blaming Fox News for the Obamacare failings.