The dinner at the White House took place June 30th, and was kept secret for some reason that remains unexplained by the U.S. News and World Report story. Maybe it was because Obama was still riding high enough in the polls that he didn’t need flacks in the press to tout his intellectual prowess. Now that he’s begun to slip, his flunkies perhaps feel his profile needs a little buffing. Whatever the reason, the story has just leaked. And guess what? Not only is our president a former con law professor and a “good listener-reserved and deliberative, thoughtful and congenial,” he’s also an idea seeker, a question asker, and a thinker who “spends the three hours between 9 p.m. and midnight ruminating and reading.” In other words, he’s the very model of a modern major president. The gathering of “nine of America’s most distinguished historians and scholars”
That’s not just change he’s bringing, that’s “transformational change.” Which must be better, because among the distinguished guests who dined on lamb chops, salad, coffee and dessert (it’s what all the brainiacs are eating) were the some of the same people-Douglas Brinkley, Robert Dallek, and H.W. Brands-who a few months ago ranked George W. Bush one of the 10 worst presidents ever. Obama “clearly wants to remain immersed in the world of ideas,” unlike Bush, who never had an idea in his life, if you ask lefty historians (and reporters).
