Do people really want a stupid president?

In the remarks that Gerson has seized on, and in remarks to donors that got him in similar trouble during the campaign (about how in tough times, disgruntled voters “cling to guns or religion or antipathy to people who aren’t like them”), Obama clearly thought he was being sympathetic. People on the other side of the political divide are not evil or stupid (two alternative explanations), he was telling his Democratic audience. They’re merely under pressure. But it’s hard to make that point without seeming to say that in fact they are stupid. Obama did not put it well. (People tend to resent sympathy; what they want is empathy.)

Apparently, he still hasn’t learned. In a vestigial attempt to say something interesting, he threw away the script. He went off-message. The real lesson here is that presidents should never say anything just because it pops into their heads. Everything must be planned, discussed, rehearsed in advance. This is why presidents have speechwriters, every one of whom throughout history has secretly been convinced that he or she is smarter than the president.