It's not impossible, but it's not likely.

I know Democrat supporters like to pretend all their presidents have 160+ IQs, but it's not actually true.

(not saying you need 160 for top 10% here)

152 Wechler

171 unprepped LSAT

1510 unprepped SAT(old scoring system)

35 ACT (took to get tutoring job/unprepped obv)


Im pretty sure these tests arent a perfect indicator of much at all, but im also fairly sure im solidly in the top 3% of humans intelligence-wise.

And no, I dont care about grammar on an internet message board.

Id say Obama is probably comparable...Clinton smarter, Carter smarter, Nixon smarter, Bush/Reagan dumber....Bush the elder comparable in raw intelligence, but superior in other areas...Lincoln MUCH smarter, Jefferson MUCH smarter...etc. etc.

Than you? Think you are way overestimating a lot of these guys.

If those numbers are genuine, top 3% based on IQ is a significant underestimate.

Lincoln much smarter? You must be kidding, it has been established in the Ron Paul Containment thread that Lincoln couldn't even figure our the slave bargaining problem.

@AlexM
Obama's educational achievements + becoming POTUS is strong evidence he's very smart (though obv not 160+ smart) and 2+2 politics...well. Do you count David Sklansky a few hundred times when you think about the 2+2 politics distribution or something?

Yes, I'd estimate Obama as probably 130-140 IQ. Plenty of people in here smarter than that. Not sure why you seem to have a low opinion of the posters here, but you're way off base.

I think people are still way underestimating Harvard Law. Graduating in the top 10% of HL means you are probably significantly smarter than an average physics PhD, for example. Quite a few people at Harvard law could do better at Putnams and IMO type math contests than people actually trained in the hard sciences.

if obama was in the top 10% of harvard law (I didn't know that) the idea that he wouldn't make the top 10% of 2+2 politics is comical.

EI is argueably more important than IQ when it comes to the presidency.

Human beings are arrogant. They underestimate the average intellect and overestimate their own.

The poll results a ridiculous. Do not ask a man to measure the size of his penis or rate his own intellect if you want accuracy

Where are you getting top 10% of HL? I've heard Harvard Law Review President, but never the 10% (not doubting it, just didn't know that).

Not really, no.

Wiki says he graduated magna cum laude.

Also, wiki says

I didn't find explicit mention that 10% is magna for the time when obama was there...but i know that that's what it is now and I believe they only changed the summa distinction since obama.

Dont you have to be in top 10-15% of class to even get into the law review at most law schools. (this could be completely wrong, but I think thats what I heard)

Also the thing that makes it evident that Obama is wicked smart is the fact it wasn't that long ago he went to Harvard Law. The top law schools have been getting exponentially harder to get into over time, so doing that in the late 80's with no legacy is way more impressive than someone like Bush going to harvard business in the 70's.

I agree with Max Raker about how impressive Harvard Law is, I knew tons of folks who got into top-5 PhD programs and Med Schools, but none of my friends applying to lawschool got into Harvard.

I believe it is an application process, where you submit a writing sample and your grades. Thats what I remember friends saying who got in to LR. Apparently, we should form a 2+2 Politics Journal made up of the top 10% of posters here (send applications to Dvaut1)...it would apparently be close to as good as Harvard Law Review