Revdarth.com

I have been struck twice in the last 14 hours by discussions about anti-intellectualism and the upcoming presidential election.  This discussion is nothing new and I likely will not be covering any new ground with my post here, but I continue to be mystified by the idea that we want our president (and our other leaders?) to be “like us.”  There are two things in this statement that mystify me.

One is a question about what is “our” collective self-esteem?  I understand that part of the American ethos is the power of the “everyman” (or everyperson) that anyone can make it in America, can make a difference, and that literally anyone can become the president of the United States or any other “high” place in the country.  I’ll take out the fact that reality often betrays this concept because it can and does happen, but it is not as frequent as many like to think it is.  That being said, do we have a low self-esteem about ourselves as a group of people that we think that we are not intellectual or intelligent and therefore we have a problem with a potential president who is somehow “above” us?

The second issue for me is why is is somehow a bad thing to have a president who is “above” the everyperson.  I remember the discsusions that went along with this during the democratic primaries with the clips of Obama rolling a gutterball (therefore he can’t bowl ergo he is not a normal person), Hillary drinking shots in a bar, and whether Obama gaffed when he talked about eating arugula.  The discussion has come around again in this commentary on CNN.com.  I have also read comments by Sarah Palin and others talking about how great it is to have an “everywoman” (in her case) as the VP candidate (and therefore just one heartbeat away from the presidency) - how refreshing, etc.  While I am an unabashed Obama backer, I would say the same thing if Obama had selected a VP with as questionable a resume (both in job experience as well as educational background) as Sarah Palin’s…I don’t want a candidate (presidential or VP) who doesn’t think higher than I do or who can’t see the intricacies of situations better than me, etc.

The job of being president is possibly the most difficult job in the world and it requires someone who can see the whole out of the many pieces while also focusing on many of those different specific pieces at the same time.  I want a president who thinks of things on a far different level than I do and is simply smarter than me.

Tim Robbins noted some of this in a recent Daily Show appearance (about the 5:49 mark)

UPDATE  - I do want to make one point of clarification after re-reading my post.  I am not saying that any of the current Pres or VP candidates are not intelligent.  They are all very intelligent people.  My issue and concern is when intellectualism is somehow turned into a bad thing and essentially belittled as a non-desireable trait in our country’s leaders.