Stupid is as stupid does

[eisely]

The current chair of the National Endowment of the Arts appointed by Pres. Obama, one Rocco Landesman, gave a speech in Brooklyn on October 21. One would expect him to praise Obama and be enthusiastic about his leader, but the quote below displays amazing ignorance:

 

"This is the first president that actually writes his own books since Teddy Roosevelt and arguably the first to write them really well since Lincoln. If you accept the premise, and I do, that the United States is the most powerful country in the world, then Barack Obama is the most powerful writer since Julius Caesar."

 

First point: What is a "powerful writer?" If by this he meant a person with political power who happened to write a book, then you have to include people like Lenin, Mao Tse Tung, Hitler and Stalin. What about Marcus Aurelius, a later emperor of the Roman Empire?

 

Second point: I don't think it is terribly bright to use Julius Caesar as your point of comparison since Caesar was assassinated for his reaching for dictatorial powers overthrowing the constitution of the Roman republic.

 

Third point: I am aware that there is a bona fide question about whether Obama wrote his first book at all, but let's set that aside. How many presidents since Lincoln wrote books? (Note also that Lincoln never wrote a book at all.)

 

Ulysses Grant wrote a memoir that is an American classic of its type. I have actually read this and it repays reading.

 

Theodore Roosevelt wrote over thirty books during a relatively short life, some of which are considered classics.

 

Woodrow Wilson was president of Princeton University and a scholar who wrote at least two books, one of which was a standard reference on US politics for many years.

 

Dwight Eisenhower wrote a history of the European campaign in World War II.

 

John F. Kennedy is credited with two books, one of which won a Pulitzer.

 

If I am not mistaken Nixon wrote a book.

 

I don't know if you can call the collection of letters that Ronald Reagan wrote that was published a "book" that he wrote, but there is no question that he wrote the letters.

 

Bill Clinton wrote at least one book, can't recall for sure.

 

Herbert Hoover wrote more than one book. In collaboration with his wife he apparently translated some greek classic into English.

 

The point of this is that this guy is in charge of a grant giving organization dispensing taxpayer dollars. You would want someone who is really smart, or at least smart enough not to embarrass himself. Is this the best that Obama can do in his appointees?

[John-in-KC]

General Eisenhower/President Eisenhower actually wrote two books:

 

Crusade in Europe is his account of Operation OVERLORD.

 

AT EASE: Stories I tell to friends is his autobiography, more in the form of stories he tells on himself through the years.

[GernBlansten]

Wow.

I wonder how FoxNews is going to run with this, being they've had 24/7 coverage on the War on Fox for the past week.

 

Hey, did anyone catch Obama's tribute to the fallen soldiers returning to the airplane hanger at 4AM yesterday? Gotta be something to nitpick him on that too.