I am old enough to remember when Henry Kissinger was Secretary of State under then President Nixon. There were no shortages of jokes about Kissinger holding himself out as the smartest man in the world. He didn’t say it in so many words, but he was the D*** Cheney of his day. Do you know anyone who wants to be D*** Cheney lately?

After Nixon stepped down, intellect and the presidency didn’t have all that much to do with each other (remember President Jimmy Carter?) until Bill Clinton came to the forefront. He was a Rhodes Scholar, someone who could understand complex issues and make them simple for us. He thought great thoughts and could lead people to a compromise. However, I seem to remember that former President Clinton showed his great intellect by giving us a new way to use cigars, and by arguing the definition of “is” in court. I will grant you that the latter says volumes about our courts and truth today, but that I will leave for another time.

Now we have President Obama. By the all mighty power of evolution, he has been gifted with a brain so immense that it actually holds his ears out slightly. Although I have been told this makes him cute, I have no opinion on this. He, coming from meager beginnings, is a graduate of one of our oldest and most esteemed universities. Obama is a lawyer who has come out of no where, first to be a state senator, a move to senator of our nation’s congress, and then President of the United States in short order. He must be smart, right? Except, although he spent twenty years in the same church, and was mentored or discipled by the pastor there, he could not remember once when his mentor spoke out against America even though the pastor did so from the pulpit, often. Then he also had a party/fund raiser for his senate run in the home of a fellow board member, but did not know about this persons association with the terrorist group, the weather underground. A man that bombed targets within the United States, and Obama didn’t seem to care about this even after finding out. Now as President, he is going around the world apologizing for things America hasn’t done, or agreeing with things that are not in line with our Constitution. We also found out that the Obamabrain doesn’t speak well without a teleprompter. Seems great intellect does not mean thinking on your feet. He does, however, surround himself with bright people, because hey, it’s not all about him!

When President Obama took his oath of office, he knew he must get the best person to drive the Treasury office; he picked the only man in America who could do it. Yes, of all the men in these United States, only one man had the intelligence and might to take America’s loosing fiscal policy (of the last eight years) and bring us into a new phase of prosperity. Yes proud citizens, Timothy F. Geithner, known to us as the Elf Lord of Finance, took the oath of office because no one can do what he does. A master of government and Asian studies, the Elf Lord of Finance has lost only one battle in his illustrious career, and that was to the evil, right wing, computer virus known as TurboTax. Thankfully, the Elf Lord of Finance does not need to hire a staff, because he knows exactly how Japan kept up, or down, their economy for an entire decade. No need for help there. His only problem, this nonsense about the Constitution; once that is out of the way, he’ll be able to bring out all of his vast powers!

To bring all this important information out to his subjects, the Obamabrain has brought us Robert Gibbs or GibbGab. GibbGab has an amazing capacity to think, in fact, he has had (by the wonders of evolution) managed to rewire some of his own nerve fibers. What would normally control the mouth, has been reintroduced into his brain, so he can continue to think and ponder on things. This has led to a problem though. Because of this alteration, he has had to utilize some nerve fibers that are normally used for the rectum to work the mouth muscles. So even though he is thinking good thoughts, so good he might even fly, when GibbGab opens his mouth to speak it sounds like….well, you get the idea.

You may not have noticed that I have some problems looking to all this intellect. In fact, in the last 75 to 100 years, our best president was an actor. Ronald Regan played a secret service agent before they were assigned to him. He may have even ridden tall in the saddle in the movies, but isn’t it better that he knew how to get on his knees before his Creator? The difference is that President Regan had character; he had principles that guided his decisions. America was fighting a cold war, but it was character that brought it down, not thinking high thoughts, considering their side, or waiting to see what was popular. He didn’t pander to our enemies, or change official semantics so as not to offend anyone. Quite the opposite in fact, he stood with his principles and boldly called for the end of Soviet Russia and the Eastern Block. When no one thought the Iron Curtain could come down, it was brought down by righteousness.

Something to note about character, it was the major factor in George Washington being asked to be our commander in chief during our War of Independence. He was neither the smartest man, nor had all the military schooling that was needed. Washington was chosen because the congress knew the man, they knew he would do as he said and make the right decisions at the right time. How many other generals, once defeating their foe, gave back the power to lead the military back to the nation? Because this is exactly what he did. This action was unique to Washington, and showed character in action. Washington also made his own term limits. Two terms as President and he was out. He returned to Mount Vernon for his retirement.

The next time we are taken in by a man of great intellect, maybe we should ask about his character instead. A man who has set of principles, principles found in Scripture as our Founding Fathers did, and has no problem getting on his knees when he is in need of guidance. This is the kind of man who can be trusted to lead our country. We had all the warning signs with President Obama, but did not heed them. Now God has given us the leader we deserve. Do we have what it takes to chose the right man for the job next time? Will we have the character to keep the principles of the Constitution while Obama is in office? It is time for us to show our character. When I was in school, we repeated one line over and over for practice in typing class. It was, "Now is the time for all good men to come to the aid of their country". What time do you have?