Rick Perry’s Texas A&M Transcript

Question for debate

Is Rick Perry smart enough to be President of the United States? Why or why not?

Of course he is. You don't have to be smart to be elected.

Is being a C- student something that will affect how well he would perform as a president? Certainly. Clearly, "book smarts" aren't the only thing that qualify you to be president, but a certain level of scholarship is pretty important, and he seems to be under the bar in my mind. Of course, I wouldn't vote for him anyway so my assessment of his intelligence is moot.


P.S. He failed O Chem and still got a B.S. in Vet Science? Or what degree did he actually get?

P.P.S. I'm also curious about where the average university GPA of politicians lies. My guess is it's under 3.0.

Is Rick Perry smart enough to be President of the United States?

Sure. Based on your College Transcript Litmus Test of Smartitude, Perry's "gentleman's C" GPA (2.3) makes him as qualified to be President as Reagan, who famously quipped that one of the great benefits of becoming President was that he could immediately order his transcripts sealed.

And let's not forget John "I always told my Dad that D stood for distinction" Kerry. Or Al "D in Natural Sciences" Gore. Or Joe "506th out of 688" Biden.

I've got to give the devil his dues. I will bet akaCG that your college GPA was higher than Rick Perry's.

Not on my first try. Not even close. I had waaaay too much fun outside the classroom back then.

On my second try, years later, yes. Nixon-level GPA. Had to pay for it myself, though. Very motivating that, in a "I'm gonna get my money's worth if it kills me" way.

Yep. Smartitude doesn't seem to run deep with politicians, which is simultaneously unsurprising and sad. I guess the students with good GPA's know better than to go into politics. I'm pretty sure the frustration of dealing with rampant idiocy (of constituents and other politicians) would drive me out of it if I ever tried it.

Could there be a difference?

Back in 1966, noted historian Richard Hofstadter wrote a book entitled Anti-Intellectualism in American Life.

Could it be that Rick Perry is either ignorant and proud of it, or is he cunning enough to see his poor academic performance as an advantage with more anti-intellectual, “spiritual” voters?
http://www.getreligion.org/2011/09/wapo-an...ual-rick-perry/