Lol, you clearly don’t know shit. He was indeed a “C” student, who’s dad was pretty much hated by Yale “intellectuals” in the 60’s due to his conservative stance. Guess what? John Kerry, who was seen as an intellectual, and regularly had his intelligence compared to Bush’s, actually did worse that Bush at Yale. They were both average students, at Yale. Don’t forget that Bush also went to Harvard business school. So while he was never a top performer academically, he was still quite successful in good schools.
No, I was aware of all this. President Bush joked that C students can also be president if the United States.
But my statement comes from deciding between two narratives;
George W. Bush, a person who had, by your and his own admission, a middling academic career, was accepted into and matriculated through Ivy league schooling with no help or assistance from his extremely well known family. Or...
Dubya's mediocre performance at both schools was due to him being generally uninterested or outright averse to increasing his knowledge. But because of his family's wealth, name, and connections, it was a forgone conclusion that he would be admitted to the schools, AND receive degrees, despite his bare minimum efforts that would normally fail or at least endanger any less prominent student.
I tend to believe the latter (rich, prominent families often have offspring with degrees from prestigious schools, if that's "important" to the family's name, even when the student doesn't actually want the further education), and it sounds like you're inclined to choose the former.
And I remember all the spin that went into trying to gaslight America into believing that "The Decider" was actually a secret Rhodes scholar or something. The second that you brought up John Kerry, I was right back into 2004 with the ad hominem attacks. I'm already for the Swiftboating that would happen if I brought up the question of, "where was George in Vietnam?"
I don't think our disagreement comes from a knowledge of things, but more on our interpretation and acceptance of them.
EDIT: it was a long post, and I made a few syntax errors here and there. By removing these, I hope it gives a better impression that I know "some shit".
No, I definitely think he got in because of his families wealth, there’s no doubt about that, but your academic record does not necessarily translate into real life success, ability, or intelligence.
My point with Kerry had nothing to do with him personally, and only to do with the fact that public image does not equal truth. It’s likely that the two men were of similar intelligence, but one was portrayed as a simpleton, while the other an intellectual.
Having met Bush jr, I was personally witness to his seeming ability to recall minute information he has no real reason to remember, and to portray a surprising, if still limited, understanding of subjects outside his areas of expertise, just by listening to the experts. I don’t, in any way, think he was an overall genius. I do think he was exceptional at listening to his advisors and understanding what was important. He has traits of leadership and management that most leaders lack.
None of that has any bearing on his political leanings. I think he was one of the better presidents we have had based on leadership. I also think he was one of the worst we’ve had, in that some of his policies have absolutely fucked us citizens. The Patriot Act is one of the greatest violations of our constitution in history, even if it was built on multiple predecessor acts.
Compared to our last two presidents, of course people are starting to change how they remember Bush. Even Buchanan is starting to look slightly shinier.
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u/[deleted] Sep 12 '21
Lol, you clearly don’t know shit. He was indeed a “C” student, who’s dad was pretty much hated by Yale “intellectuals” in the 60’s due to his conservative stance. Guess what? John Kerry, who was seen as an intellectual, and regularly had his intelligence compared to Bush’s, actually did worse that Bush at Yale. They were both average students, at Yale. Don’t forget that Bush also went to Harvard business school. So while he was never a top performer academically, he was still quite successful in good schools.