Asymmetrical Information

From the desk of Mindles H. Dreck:

Book Smarts and Street Smarts

My Sunday response to Bill Keller has been hyperblogged and I am enjoying many comments on aspects of intelligence. I've been pondering the question myself on my national tour of airport restrooms this week.*

Reader "Bob" comments:

Intelligence is one of those things that is in the eye of the beholder. I remember way back in Junior High when my English Lit teacher described between Brutus and Cassius in Shakepeare's Julius Caesar. Brutus had "book smarts" ala Clinton: He could cite all sorts of facts and figures and roll you over with feelings of self-doubt. But better than that were Cassius' "street smarts" ala Reagan: He could persuade anyone -- even the media (and even Brutus). I believe a President doesn't have to be "book smart". Look at Carter -- a nuclear physicist. But a President is much more effective when he is "street smart".

Bob is on the mark here. I have had the pleasure of working with a number of accomplished individuals who had trouble with academic learning. I know one fellow who had trouble passing his Series 7 (a rote securities law licensing exam) but knows his way around securities accounting and clearance better than almost anyone. Furthermore, he's one of these people who just gets things done.

He knows what he doesn't know, and where to get it. Then he knows what to do with it when he's got it. He also judges character quickly and well.

That's street smarts. We would all like a president who thinks great thoughts and has a full command of history, philosophy and science. But we would also like a president who mobilizes people and moves them towards specific goals under immense pressure. That's a very rare combination. Jeb Bartlett fits the description. He's also a Democrat New Hampshire governor, another rare animal.

Of course, in the elitist worldview there are no street smarts. The substitute is "ennobled". If some poor lamb is unfortunate enough not to be steeped in the generally statist academic traditions of the Northeast, they can also be ennobled enough by suffering, or connection to a recognized victim group, to be credible via pure authenticity. There are exceptions to this, of course, such as Clarence Thomas, Condi Rice, etc., but generally, some claim to victimhood Makes one a more credible policy maker. This is the elitist answer to "street smarts." It's as least as snobby as we objectivists insisting that people not only have experience but also actually make sense when they get a public hearing.

Rejecting the liberal canon, wasting his college years (oh no, nobody else ever did that) and raised in privilege, Bush fits neither of these criteria and therefore must be neither intelligent nor credible. No further examination is necessary.

*On the topic of my mileage this week, trust me - there are few things worse than traveling with a stomach bug. I've even logged enough airport facility time to hear the muzak version of Stevie Wonder's Golden Lady twice.

On another note, I see that Logan Airport has a very professional (and somewhat intimidating) looking private security team that is fastidious about passenger inspections. THe X-Ray guys is actually playing close attention (and he looked like Bruce Dern, too). This is the first team with which I've been impressed. They will be federalized in a week and a half. Although the guard I spoke with said they were being offered first preference on the new federal jobs, he was personally very unhappy with the change. The line moved on before I could ask why (as if I didn't know).

Posted by Mindles H. Dreck at March 28, 2002 5:53 PM | Technorati inbound links