Presidential Smarts

While travelling last week, I found myself stuck in a Tennessee ice storm (how often does that happen?). With a little time on my hands, I chanced to peruse a recent copy of Newsweek magazine. What I learned is that the failure of President Barack Obama's policy agenda is his own fault. You see, he's just too smart. He's leading with his head rather than his heart, and those of us who don't want to go where he would lead our country are just too dim to appreciate his brilliance.

This is the smartest president in modern history, maybe even the smartest ever. We would all be better off if we just let him do all our thinking for us.

Haven't we been here before? Haven't we, fairly recently, had apresident who was hailed as being magnificently intelligent? Just consider the classic Dan Aykroyd skit from Saturday Night Live, in which he lampooned the celebrated smarts of President Jimmy Carter, the last smartest president ever, then ask yourself, just how did that administration work out for us? By the time he left office, we faced unemployment, inflation, and high interest rates. Fifty Americans had been held hostage in Iran, and our military was humiliated by a botched rescue attempt.

Maybe the ability to quote Reihold Neibuhr should not be the criteria upon which we judge the intelligence of the man (or woman!) we place in the oval office.

An Army of What?

The headline certainly got my attention: "New Obama faith-based advisor described Knights of Columbus as ‘army of oppression’." My first reaction was the Obama-inspired phrase, "That's not the Knights of Columbus I know." My second reaction was inspired by my strain of Obama Derangement Syndrome: "Now they're targeting us!" Naturally, I had to read the whole thing to get the full story.

The full story is that one guy appointed to the President's advisory council on faith-based partnerships (another body that appears to be oriented toward a lot of talk and discussion with no real results expected) is a homosexual rights activist. It should come as no surprise that this advocate for, among other things, homosexual "marriage" does not care much for any organization that is taking a stand in defense of traditional marriage as understood by the Catholic Church.

The Knights of Columbus are placed in pretty good company:

According to CNSNews.com, Knox has described Pope Benedict XVI and certain Catholic bishops as “discredited leaders” because of their opposition to same-sex marriage. Though granting the Knights of Columbus’ “good works," Knox also called the organization’s members “foot soldiers of a discredited army of oppression” because of the Catholic group’s support for the successful California ballot measure Proposition 8. Proposition 8 restored the definition of marriage to being between a man and a woman.

So the headline is a little misleading. This activist did not call the Knights an army of oppression, rather he called it's members "foot soldiers" in an army of oppression. The leaders of this army are Pope Benedict XVI and "certain Catholic bishops." Yeah, that sounds about right.

To defer some of the Obama Derangement Syndrome, it should be noted that, also appointed to the advisory council, are the General Counsel to the US Conference of Catholic Bishops and the President of Catholic Charities USA. We can hope that they will bring an authentic Catholic voice to the council.