War on Terror... Boy, I Don't Know

I was just doing my usual Saturday 'got nothin' better to do' browsing (God, I love lazy Saturdays) when I stumbled on this quote over at The People's Republic of Seabrook:

He's not an intellectual. He is not what I guess would be called a deep thinker. He chastised me at one point because I said people were concerned about the failure to find WMDs. And he said, 'Well you travel in elite circles.' I think he feels there is an intellectual world and he's indicated he's not a part of it...the fancy pants intellectual world. What he calls the elite.

Bob Woodward

The quote reminded me of something President Bartlet said to his challenger, Governor Richie, in the final episode of the third season of the West Wing. Earlier in the evening, the secret service agent assigned to protect CJ Cregg has been shot and killed in a convenience store robbery. When Bartlet told Ritchie the news, Ritchie responded with:

"Crime... boy, I don't know."

and then went on to complain that Bartlet was too clever by half, that the electorate wanted a President who chose baseball over theatre.

At the end of the conversation, Bartlett stubbed out his cigarette, turned to Ritchie and said:

"In the future, if you're wondering, "Crime... Boy, I don't know," is when I decided to kick your ass."

I don't want the free world to be led by a man who believes that the presence or absence of WMDs is a matter of interest only to the intellectual elite. I don't want him to 'choose the baseball'. I want him to be smart, maybe even too smart. I'd go so far as to say that I don't want to be able to understand what he's saying. I want to be made to feel dumb when I listen to the guy. I want to furrow my brow. I want him to use words I've never even heard. Hell, I want him to speak Latin fluently. Is that too much to ask of the most powerful man on Earth, the man with his finger on the button?

Our job now is to find the right man for the job... But I'm pretty sure he ain't called John Kerry.