by Clifford F. Thies

With Governor Perry's entering the race for the GOP nomination and immediately assuming the #1 position, those on the smarmy left are falling all over themselves with the possibility that, even stupider than George W. Bush, who was "too dumb to govern," Perry is "too dumb to be elected."

I have previously conducted an assessment of Rick Perry's intelligence

And he has clearly demonstrated sufficient intelligence to be President. With Perry, as with all Republican candidates for President, we have his college transcript because the Democrats who predominate the academic world can be counted upon to leak this supposedly confidential information. With Obama, of course, we don't have his transcripts, or much of anything else. We're just supposed to take it on faith that he's brilliant.

In fairness to Perry, I'll comment briefly on what we do know of Obama's intelligence. First, in the area of professional certification, Obama passed the Illinois Bar Exam on the first attempt. This is not nothing. I don't know how it equates with Rick Perry's certification as a pilot in the U.S. Air Force; but, if I had to compare the two, I'd say passing the bar on the first attempt is more impressive.

Second, in the area of college student performance, we know that Rick Perry was an average student at Texas A&M, an engineering-oriented school. We know that Barack Obama took a total of six years to complete a four-year degree, starting out at Occidental and finishing at Columbia. We know that, at Columbia, he was in some kind of special program, since other political science majors contemporaneous with him did not see him in their classes. We know, from his autobiography, that he was smoking dope and doing coke during his college days so if we ever were to see his transcripts, we wouldn't be surprised to find uneven grades. Nevertheless, he, like Perry, graduated from a fine college and I think that is, in the end, about all that we can or should say about either of them.

Third, in the area of achievement prior to being a Presidential candidate, we know that Rick Perry has a long and impressive record in politics, as a state legislator, and as Ag. Commissioner, Lt. Governor and Governor of Texas. Barack Obama did well himself, first in Law School, where he was voted by his peers to be editor of the Harvard Law Review, and, then, as a Fellow at the University of Chicago Law School, where his classes (primarily, Race and the Law) were very popular with the students. After Chicago, Obama got involved in politics, where he got elected to the State Senate and then the U.S. Senator, before being a candidate for President. I should also mention that, while at the Chicago, Obama wrote (perhaps with help) "Dreams from my Father," an introspective, search-for-identity autobiography, that is highly critically acclaimed. In contrast, Perry has written two books, one his own autobiography and the other expressing criticism of the federal government, neither of which has been as successful.

It is very difficult to compare these two resumes. Perry's experience is that of a plugger, a fellow who rises from one to another level in politics on the basis of accomplishments. Obama's experience is meteoric, a fellow who rises in politics because of promise. Nobody, for example, can identity any legislative accomplishments during his time in the Illinois Senate or in the U.S. Senate; but, then, he was continually running for higher office while in those positions. He has no law review articles, as would be expected of the editor of the Harvard Law Review or of a Fellow at the University of Chicago Law School; but, politics was his ambition, not scholarship.

I will close with a comment on Barack Obama's IQ. I have seen estimates ranging from 120 (which would be similar to what I consider to be the most persuasive estimate of George W. Bush's IQ) to 140 (which would be similar to estimates of Hillary Clinton's and Abraham Lincoln's). First, IQ is not, by itself, a good predictor of success other than success in school. Second, the high-end estimates are often derived inappropriately, for example, by considering the average LSAT score of those admitted to Harvard Law School, when it is well known that affirmative action points would have been awarded in Obama's case. Also, it appears that Obama was not a National Merit Scholar, which would indicate that his IQ is no higher than 130. Third, an IQ in the range of 120 to 130 would be plenty sufficient to be President (which is not to say this should be the only criterion on which a voter should make a decision).

My bottom line: anybody who argues that a candidate of either major party is too dumb to be President is only revealing their own arrogance.

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