I can certainly understand that the Bush White House is going to have less than kind words for Barack Obama. The Illinois senator is running for president, vowing to undo Bush’s mistakes. But of all the possible criticisms for the president’s team to make, this might be the single most ridiculous.
As for Obama, a senior White House official said the freshman senator from Illinois was “capable” of the intellectual rigor needed to win the presidency but instead relies too heavily on his easy charm.
“It’s sort of like, ‘that’s all I need to get by,’ which bespeaks sort of a condescending attitude towards the voters,” said the official, speaking on condition of anonymity. “And a laziness, an intellectual laziness.”
Yes, the pot is calling the kettle lazy. The audacity. Of all the possible disparagements, the Bush White House wants to accuse Barack Obama of “intellectual laziness”? Seriously?
Has this senior White House official ever taken a close look at his or her own boss? You know, he’s the one who doesn’t like to read long policy papers or newspapers. He’s the one who’s taken more vacation time than any president in American history. He’s the one who’s never shown a hint of intellectual curiosity about any subject. He’s the one who publicly mocks those with advanced post-graduate degrees.
In contrast, there’s Sen. Obama, the Harvard-trained lawyer who taught constitutional law, wrote two acclaimed non-fiction books, and by all appearances, has a genuine thirst for knowledge.
Bush’s aide was generous enough to provide some examples to bolster the criticism.
[The senior White House official] cited an example from Obama’s memoir, The Audacity of Hope, in which the senator complains that many “government programs don’t work as advertised.” Five days after the book was published last fall, Obama was asked to name some of those government programs by Tim Russert on NBC’s “Meet the Press.”
“And he can’t give an example,” the official said. “Look, if you wrote the book, you should have thought through what it was. But he’s sitting there, fumbling around.”
First, Obama cited electronic billing for Medicare and Medicaid providers. That may not be an amazing answer, but it’s not “fumbling.” Second, at least Obama wrote his own book(s), which is more than we can say about Bush.
…Nor does Obama know his facts very well, according to the senior White House official. The official said in March, Obama was flummoxed by questions about his health care plan at a Democratic forum in Las Vegas. Two months later, the candidate drastically overstated the death toll from Kansas tornadoes.
“Ten thousand people died,” Obama told an audience, when the actual death toll was 12.
Yep, Obama misspoke. If that’s a reflection of someone who doesn’t know his facts very well, than George W. Bush must have the knowledge base of a decomposing banana.
“Over time, we’ll see other things like that,” the White House official said. “I’m going to be validated on Barack. He’s not done the hard work necessary to prepare himself. And it’s too late to do it.”
Bush has been president for seven years, and he still hasn’t done the hard work necessary to prepare himself. Is it too late for him, too?
For goodness sakes, the Bush gang isn’t in a position to accuse anyone of intellectual laziness, least of all Obama. For that matter, Brendan Nyhan raises a good point: “I’m also troubled by the use of ‘laziness’ as the grounds to attack the first serious black presidential contender. I assume it was unintentional, but can’t we talk about Obama without language that echoes racist stereotypes?”
That would be nice.