Chief White House correspondent for U.S. News & World Report Kenneth Walsh is mighty impressed. In "He's Still No-Drama Obama," posted on the magazine's Web site, Walsh writes:
Face to face, President Obama seems even more unflappable, cerebral, and dispassionate than he appears on television.
And later:
I have interviewed each of the past five presidents— Reagan, George H. W. Bush, Bill Clinton, George W. Bush, and now Obama—and Obama seems the most cerebral and the least emotional of them all.
"Cerebral" is one of the media's favorite adjectives to describe Obama these days. In the current Newsweek, Anna Quindlen notes:
(Obama) is methodical, thoughtful, cerebral, a believer in consensus and process.
National Public Radio blogger Frank James describes Obama as "the urbane, super cool, cerebral president."
In a Los Angeles Times piece last month, columnist Michael Hiltzik asks, "why are the Democrats so reluctant to drop the hammer on the opposition and pass" ObamaCare?
Could the answer lie in Obama's cerebral personality? Obama seems to believe that if he explains his positions slowly and clearly enough, their fundamental logic will inevitably win the day without the need for arm-twisting.
Barry is very, very brainy. That's the message. There are different types of intelligence, of course, and Obama clearly is bright in certain ways. He did, after all, parlay his community organizer background with a mediocre record as a state legislator and extremely limited experience as a senator into a White House win.
Still, we also know Obama has problems at least occasionally with elemental facts like how many states there are, what language is spoken in Afghanistan, and to whom Memorial Day is dedicated. Then there was the time last year he claimed 10,000 people perished in Kansas tornadoes. The actual number was 12.
Tut, tut, advised his media accomplices. Trivial errors that anyone could have made. Still, they can't explain why the genius must have several of his favorite teleprompters around him at all times.
Then there are his policies. How smart does one have to be to think that a country can spend its way out of its economic woes? That government makes better decisions for people than the people themselves do? That cozying up to ruthless dictators, dithering on important decisions, and constantly apologizing for one's own country are prudent policies?
The mainstream media have a vested interest in making Obama appear successful. They did much of the heavy lifting necessary to get him into the White House. As his failures become more apparent and he sinks in the polls, they now hope to persuade us that electing this "cerebral" man was the smart thing to do.
How dumb do they think the American people are?
