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Opinion: May 26 buzz: Obama’s so smart, he sounds dumb?

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Most viewed, commented and shared: Obama’s fast brain vs. slow mouth

In her weekly column, Meghan Daum defends President Obamas dialect and the manner in which he addresses an audience.

But consider this: It’s not that Obama can’t speak clearly. It’s that he employs the intellectual stammer. Not to be confused with a stutter, which the president decidedly does not have, the intellectual stammer signals a brain that is moving so fast that the mouth can’t keep up. The stammer is commonly found among university professors, characters in Woody Allen movies and public thinkers of the sort that might appear on C-SPAN but not CNN. If you’re a member or a fan of that subset, chances are the president’s stammer doesn’t bother you; in fact, you might even love him for it (he sounds just like your grad school roommate, especially when he drank too much Scotch and attempted to expound on the Hegelian dialectic!).

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Hear, hear, say some of our readers, who find it refreshing to have a president who thinks before speaking.

I guess I belong to the group of folks that not only do not mind his pauses, but certainly appreciate them. Appreciate them because I know what he is doing... He is THINKING before he speaks. My goodness what a refreshing change from all the normal blather. --crotherm

But not all of our readers are buying Daum’s argument. From our discussion board:

So I guess when Obama referred to the ’57 states in the US’ his mind was projecting a time, in the future, when this might be true. --Herby123 nice try, Meghan...if he stammers like a moron when he’s not reading from a script it’s our fault for not recognizing his genius!.... he’s smart because he sounds stupid?...what the heck are you talking about?...comparing him to Buckley?....no way is he in that intellectual league --glenngrabcello Wow...what a spin. When Bush stumbled he was a dolt. When Obama stumbles he’s an intellectual thinking so quickly he can’t verbalize. The truth....they are both human beings. No one is perfect. We’ve gotten too used to President Obama’s articulation due to his preparation use of the teleprompter, which make him seem so perfect in speech. Not knocking its use, just a fact. Neither the President nor any of us could do as well without it. Also, it is not his style to think on his feet... --tommythek50

*Spelling errors were corrected for clarity.

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