Political Leaders and Intelligence

Hi Leslie and Rob,
 
I just saw in Huffington Post that Bill Maher’s nickname for Sarah Palin is Mrs. Moron. That made me smile.
 
It’s a reminder though of something that Garry Wills wrote a long time ago. He observed that political leaders do much better when they are of middling intelligence – mediocre is the word he used. So why do we want our leaders to be so smart? We don’t want them to be too wealthy, too randy, too pushy, too fussy, or too anything, really. Why do we want them to be so brainy?
 
Anyway, no one would mistake Palin for a brainiac.
 
Love,
 
Steve
 
 
P. S. You could say that leaders with extra brains are better problem solvers, or that they’re more entertaining, or that we trust them more, but each one of those reasons sounds pretty doubtful to me.
 
Nixon was smart, but no one would call him entertaining or trustworthy.
 
Here’s an interesting case: Kennedy was blessed with high intelligence, and many voters loved him for his leadership qualities. But many individuals, including people in his government who were quite powerful, thought he was not a good leader. As with Julius Caesar, they did not trust him, and his extraordinary intelligence may have been a factor in that.
 
/S. G.