tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9430835.post4436436873757413621..comments2024-03-28T16:22:14.888-07:00Comments on Steve Sailer: iSteve: Hints of Obama's PersonalityUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger79125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9430835.post-82078380908131510842010-10-26T05:38:05.884-07:002010-10-26T05:38:05.884-07:00Wow, thanks for the link to the Runaways' bass...Wow, thanks for the link to the Runaways' bassist's extended analogy between Joan Jett and Obama, whom the bassist later met at Harvard Law School. <br /><br />I mean, I have a professional interest in Obama, but I've always been fascinated by Joan Jett. By the time I saw her in 1977 she had acquired a mesmerizing rock star persona, but she didn't actually have much to do in the band other than play rhythm guitar.Steve Sailerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11920109042402850214noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9430835.post-16340772841981828752010-10-26T05:31:29.380-07:002010-10-26T05:31:29.380-07:00That's funny. I was just talking to my wife ab...That's funny. I was just talking to my wife about Joan Jett. I saw the Runaways in 1977.Steve Sailerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11920109042402850214noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9430835.post-75936326995492949582010-10-26T04:15:46.117-07:002010-10-26T04:15:46.117-07:00Just ran across this & it seems at least semi-...Just ran across this & it seems at least semi-relevant: Former Obama classmate Jackie Fuchs (AKA former Runaways bassist Jackie Fox) on <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jackie-fuchs/why-barack-obama-reminds_b_121621.html" rel="nofollow">the similarities between Obama and Joan Jett</a>.Unknownhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00792900682131169200noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9430835.post-91919276893877269732010-10-25T09:59:23.599-07:002010-10-25T09:59:23.599-07:00A possibly parsimonious explanation for the Presid...A possibly parsimonious explanation for the President's "introversion" just might be the not unreasonable conjecture that he is basically very homosexual. Again, what is known overtly about his contacts with females during his high school years in Hawaii and his undergrad years simply is far more frequently found among homosexual males than among heterosexuals. His lack of control (e.g., can't stop smoking, can't abide writing deadlines ) might well dictate the prudence of his having mostly a "distant" exposure socially.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9430835.post-69705089451412247812010-10-24T07:06:09.150-07:002010-10-24T07:06:09.150-07:00I don't think Obama thinks he's the smarte...I don't think Obama thinks he's the smartest guy in the room -unless he's a crypto quantitative genius, which I think is unlikely but not completely impossible (daddy was a credible econ grad student).<br /><br />He may credibly think he's the smartest at the particular type of socially and street-useful intelligence that allows one to be elected president of HLR by fellow magna cum laude track HLS students.<br /><br />I'm not sure it's a disadvantage to not be running scared all the time. He seems to me to have outstrategized both Bill Clinton and John McCain in 2008. The best example of his intelligence to me is his line on McCain regarding the debates during the economic meltdown- "I think a President should be able to handle more than one thing at the same time".<br /><br />When looking for technocratic superiors to Obama, I'd like to see folks with more demonstrated quantitative aptness, and administrative experience (particularly in areas of macroeconomics and national security), but with similar levels of jurisprudential literacy.<br /><br />Also, I think it's good for governance legitmacy for administrators to better resemble their administrated populations, IMO -but there's a tension between that and technocratic competence.<br /><br />Still, the USA has an abundant of folks that both resemble the general population and are among the most competent people in the world, so that problem seems less relevant for a country that chose someone relatively unrepresentative to the general populations in a lot of ways.<br /><br />In short, it's 2010. Future presidents should be demonstrably better at math.<br /><br />Hopefully Anonymous<br /><br />http://www.hopeanon.typepad.comAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9430835.post-60941781049968382482010-10-22T11:59:16.817-07:002010-10-22T11:59:16.817-07:00"[affirmative action] is not going to make yo..."[affirmative action] is not going to make you HLS editor, a Senator, or a President. Stuff at that level is always highly competitive."<br /><br />The HLR uses <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/1990/02/06/us/first-black-elected-to-head-harvard-s-law-review.html?pagewanted=2" rel="nofollow">racial prefrences</a>, when Obama was made editor the Harvard campus was embroiled in <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Derrick_Bell#Protests_over_faculty_diversity" rel="nofollow">racial controversy</a>. <br /><br />Obama was elected to the Senate after defeating Alan Keyes.C. Van Carterhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09918883799053031223noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9430835.post-69206630685968484812010-10-22T08:47:15.839-07:002010-10-22T08:47:15.839-07:00Most brilliant kids that go off to Caltech or MIT ...<i>Most brilliant kids that go off to Caltech or MIT or Cal Engineering promptly get their backsides kicked around<br /><br />Any regular reader of this blog, and anyone who understands HBD knows that this is not true.</i><br /><br />Any graduate of Caltech, MIT or Cal Engineering, and anyone who understands the undeniable hierarchy of quantitative fields, knows that this is true. The natural distribution of talent predicted by HBD also predicts 97-99% of even these select will be humbled and/or have to work their tail off.<br /><br />Of course you could be taking a narrower view of "brilliant" to mean not only the top fraction of a percent of college students qualified to attend these institutions but a tiny percentage of said fraction. <br /><br />In this you're right, "Brilliant" is a grossly overused term. The more intelligent the person I meet, the less likely I am to likely to encounter such generic and unqualified praise like "brilliant".Almostnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9430835.post-8020368656089723642010-10-21T12:06:22.803-07:002010-10-21T12:06:22.803-07:00Most brilliant kids that go off to Caltech or MIT ...<i>Most brilliant kids that go off to Caltech or MIT or Cal Engineering promptly get their backsides kicked around</i><br /><br />Any regular reader of this blog, and anyone who understands HBD knows that this is not true.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9430835.post-34554597875737210812010-10-21T12:05:19.517-07:002010-10-21T12:05:19.517-07:00You're lying. Harvard has claimed to have blin...<i>You're lying. Harvard has claimed to have blind grading for some time, but you have no way of knowing that it does, and everything that we know about the world suggests that the "blind grading" process can be corrupted or circumvented.</i><br /><br />I'm lying? Wow.MQ and Truth said it best.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9430835.post-28186733580323591652010-10-21T09:35:56.258-07:002010-10-21T09:35:56.258-07:00Is anyone aware of some videotaped
discussion or d...Is anyone aware of some videotaped<br />discussion or debate presvious to, say, 2003, in which BHO , as a participant, demonstrates his capacities--e.g., to follow arguments, catch inconsistencies, perceive ramifications, etc. ?? It is astounding how much of what "everyone knows" about the President, dissipates into question marks when carefully scrutinized.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9430835.post-81308772459800833642010-10-21T09:27:53.379-07:002010-10-21T09:27:53.379-07:00Yes, I find it consistent with higher IQ if someon...<i>Yes, I find it consistent with higher IQ if someone's easily bored with mundane assignments, and yes, I find it inconsistent with higher IQ if someone's easily bored in general; the latter tend to be more extroverted, "needy" types who, left to their own devices, are easily bored.</i><br /><br />Svigor conflates intelligence with conscientiousness. They are two separate factors that are independent and both contributions to success in the real world.<br /><br />Svigor should say that high-IQ, low-to-average conscientious individuals often fail at dumb tasks because they become bored, drift, reframe to solve a more interesting problem, etc.<br /><br />High-IQ and high-conscientiousness individuals generally will succeed at both simple and complex tasks. The dumber or more route the task the more important conscientiousness becomes relative to IQ.HR Staffnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9430835.post-38154877875378608102010-10-21T08:22:32.127-07:002010-10-21T08:22:32.127-07:00"There is no secret conspiracy of liberals lo..."There is no secret conspiracy of liberals looking to give away the biggest prizes and plums of American life to stupid black people. The world doesn't work that way."<br /><br />I couldn't have written it any more accurately, or concisely.Truthhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17286755693955361308noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9430835.post-50335489683982773242010-10-20T21:55:36.352-07:002010-10-20T21:55:36.352-07:00The book was written by Bill Ayers [and that's...<i> The book was written by Bill Ayers [and that's been confirmed beyond even a shadow of a doubt]. </i><br /><br />Are you kidding? Not only hasn't it been confirmed, there's basically no evidence for it beyond a circle-jerk on various right-wing web sites.<br /><br />The obsession with Obama and affirmative action on conservative web sites is extraordinary and speaks to some real psychological issues. Anyone with any familiarity with affirmative action knows that it's useful if you're a janitor trying to become a fireman, or a guy with Penn State type grades trying to get into UPenn, but it is not going to make you HLS editor, a Senator, or a President. Stuff at that level is always highly competitive. There is no secret conspiracy of liberals looking to give away the biggest prizes and plums of American life to stupid black people. The world doesn't work that way.MQnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9430835.post-1583957244303095732010-10-20T19:56:10.644-07:002010-10-20T19:56:10.644-07:00"I don't know about Adams but Washington ..."I don't know about Adams but Washington was definitely smarter than Jefferson. Jefferson for all his genius died broke. He racked up so much debt that Montecello had to be sold. His daugher was forced to live on charity. Washington died rich."<br /><br />Jefferson was a brilliant intellectual but he wasn't good with money, a not-uncommon combination.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9430835.post-41661327405890666982010-10-20T19:50:46.724-07:002010-10-20T19:50:46.724-07:00If you believe that, then there is a bridge in Bro...<i>If you believe that, then there is a bridge in Brooklyn I would like to sell you. Look, there is no way you can be HLR president from "affirmative action" or "popularity". I know those of you without any legal training would like to think so, but it is simply not possible. The students and faculty are completely aware of what this position means and are not fools.</i><br /><br />Non sequitur.<br /><br /><i>Look at what Professor Lawrence Tribe said about him: <br /><br />“the most impressive and talented of the thousands of students I have been privileged to teach in nearly 40 years on the Harvard faculty.” <br /><br />OK, do you really think Tribe is going to say that about an average law student that he elevated in his mind just because he was black.</i><br /><br />Not just because he was "black", but because he was a mulatto who had been chosen for promotion.<br /><br /><i>Yes, it has been blind grading (most classes) since 1987, I think.<br /></i><br /><br />You're lying. Harvard has claimed to have blind grading for some time, but you have no way of knowing that it does, and everything that we know about the world suggests that the "blind grading" process can be corrupted or circumvented.ben tillmannoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9430835.post-49154954390864957472010-10-20T19:30:29.064-07:002010-10-20T19:30:29.064-07:00Actually, I'm sure he's quite bright.
And...Actually, I'm sure he's quite bright.<br /><br />And bright is nothing. Brilliant is nothing, too, unless you've learned how to have discipline, work hard, and realize that you don't know much, no matter how brilliant.<br /><br />Most brilliant kids that go off to Caltech or MIT or Cal Engineering promptly get their backsides kicked around--because not once in their lives did they ever have to work or think to solve a problem before. Some only learn this lesson in their first real job, where they are about to be fired for blowing off deadlines, refusing to work with people dumber (and yet more diligent than they are), etc. In any case, learning to actually do work and have discipline is more important than mental horsepower.<br /><br />In any case, learning that brains doesn't make you good at something is a necessary condition to you ever acting like an adult.<br /><br />Obama has never had anyone anywhere make him work hard at anything. Written up as talented, raised up for his intellect and skin color, no one challenged him. He hasn't run anything, not even as large as a dairy queen. He can't hold down a job because of the tedium of working with those other idiots around.<br /><br />And it's too late now.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9430835.post-52421493236224825902010-10-20T19:13:12.849-07:002010-10-20T19:13:12.849-07:00The guy is pretty damn smart, Steve, you have to a...<i>The guy is pretty damn smart, Steve, you have to admit that. You don't graduate magna cum laude (top 10%) from grade-blind Harvard Law if you are not smart.</i><br /><br />None of us has any reason to believe there is a "grade-blind" Harvard Law School.ben tillmannoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9430835.post-37327694655634868872010-10-20T19:08:28.762-07:002010-10-20T19:08:28.762-07:00Wasn't Hitler awkward in one-on-one conversati...<i>Wasn't Hitler awkward in one-on-one conversation but brilliant in front of large crowds, too?</i><br /><br />Steve didn't say anything about one-on-one situations. He spoke of "smaller groups", which is something vastly different.ben tillmannoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9430835.post-55347878422890216832010-10-20T19:05:40.816-07:002010-10-20T19:05:40.816-07:00For someone with as mediocre an intellect as Obama...<i>For someone with as mediocre an intellect as Obama to think he's the smartest guy in any room is a huge indictment. Did he think like that at Harvard?</i><br /><br />It propbably just means that he spends a lot of time with Michelle.ben tnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9430835.post-10917993820315367402010-10-20T16:10:48.068-07:002010-10-20T16:10:48.068-07:00Just for the record, I'm not saying and never ...Just for the record, I'm not saying and never have thought that Obama is not bright. I'm sure he's bright. I just don't think he's as bright as I suspect he thinks he is.Kylienoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9430835.post-9917597014591275652010-10-20T15:54:55.257-07:002010-10-20T15:54:55.257-07:00So his record is: mediocre in a good prep school, ...<i>So his record is: mediocre in a good prep school, mediocre-to-good standardized test scores, (I'm assuming if he got into Occidental, even as an AA admit), mediocre undergrad in which he is pretty much anonymous at Columbia, three years where he suddenly got fantastic grades in a difficult environment at HLS, writes a book that is well regarded as a literary work, and becomes a politician.</i> <br /><br />The book was written by Bill Ayers [and that's been confirmed beyond even a shadow of a doubt].<br /><br />The grades at Harvard just go to show that an Ivy League edumakashun is now essentially worthless [especially if you're a quota admission and the professors are terrified to give you the grades that you actually deserve].<br /><br />Which is not to say that an Ivy League sheepskin is worthless [obviously it opens a lot of doors] - it's just that the sheepskin [especially in the humanities and the social "sciences"] no longer guarantees any actual learning or intellectual accomplishment.<br /><br />It's more like an emblem - a "Louis Vuitton" or a "Gianni Versace".Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9430835.post-86268065738598332302010-10-20T15:31:38.546-07:002010-10-20T15:31:38.546-07:00OK, do you really think Tribe is going to say that...<i>OK, do you really think Tribe is going to say that about an average law student that he elevated in his mind <b>just because he was black</b>.</i> <br /><br />Uh, this is a joke - right?<br /><br />[BTW, note that questions end with these here thingamabobs, "?", called "question marks".]<br /><br />PS: If anyone here really cares [i.e. is ready and willing to believe this bullshit], then try reading <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/30/us/politics/30law.html" rel="nofollow">the Chicago Law Exams</a> - they're <a href="http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2124993/posts" rel="nofollow">simply execrable</a>.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9430835.post-87704451154423533592010-10-20T13:44:56.127-07:002010-10-20T13:44:56.127-07:00I don't know about Adams but Washington was de...I don't know about Adams but Washington was definitely smarter than Jefferson. Jefferson for all his genius died broke. He racked up so much debt that Montecello had to be sold. His daugher was forced to live on charity. Washington died rich.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9430835.post-4259150216513605112010-10-20T11:35:37.908-07:002010-10-20T11:35:37.908-07:00Svigor said..."So yes, IME intelligent people...Svigor said..."So yes, IME intelligent people are less prone to boredom than average people, because they can more easily cook up ways to amuse themselves; they're more rewarded by investigation into the world since they can figure more of it out.<br /><br />On the other hand, assign an intelligent person a less challenging task and he can be surprisingly likely to #*@! it up because it can't engage him the way it engages an average person."<br /><br />Yes, both extremes are true. An intelligent person will often be bored when confronted by the simplistic things that engage an unintelligent person. And an unintelligent person will often be bored when confronted with the complex things that engage an intelligent person.<br /><br />But left to their own devices, intelligent people can something that engages their interest whereas the less intelligent when left to their own devices, are more apt to be bored.<br /><br />I find Jarrett's remark, "He knows exactly how smart he is.... He's been bored to death his whole life. He's just too talented to do what ordinary people do" revealing of both her and Obama. Obviously she meant it as a compliment to him, that he is too above the ordinary to engage with it or be engaged by it. But it really comes across as a version of Leona Helmsley's remark "Only the little people pay taxes". You know, only ordinary people are not bored all their lives the way he is. <br /><br />Then of course, when you consider that from an early age, Obama had a range of experiences that really mark him as privileged: traveling to various countries, going first to a private school and then to Ivy League schools. With all that travel and education from Hawaii to Harvard and he's been bored all his life? <br /><br />I really feel like responding to her comment with, "Yes, he knows exactly how smart he is. He knows just how far being black would take him and he rode that all the way to the White House. Muddling through on merit is for ordinary people, melanin with a dash of merit works much better. He's been bored because those around him told him that every step he took was a giant leap for mankind--but they only did so 99% of the time. The other 1% they actually found something else to talk about. How boring."Kylienoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9430835.post-1051489265045734332010-10-20T09:36:31.900-07:002010-10-20T09:36:31.900-07:00--"I believe the HLR presidency is a populari...--"I believe the HLR presidency is a popularity contest with no real responsibility, whereas the position of editor carries intellectual prestige and responsibility for the HLR product. I don't think there is any record of Obama publishing anything worthwhile at Harvard."---<br /><br />If you believe that, then there is a bridge in Brooklyn I would like to sell you. Look, there is no way you can be HLR president from "affirmative action" or "popularity". I know those of you without any legal training would like to think so, but it is simply not possible. The students and faculty are completely aware of what this position means and are not fools.<br /><br />Look at what Professor Lawrence Tribe said about him: <br /><br />“the most impressive and talented of the thousands of students I have been privileged to teach in nearly 40 years on the Harvard faculty.” <br /><br />OK, do you really think Tribe is going to say that about an average law student that he elevated in his mind just because he was black.<br /><br />Yes, it has been blind grading (most classes) since 1987, I think.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com