John McCain was "894th out of 899 in his graduating class at Annapolis. (Jimmy Carter was 59th in his class of 820. Dwight D. Eisenhower was 61st of 164 in his West Point class. Even Ulysses Grant was 21st of 39 at West Point.)"
From NewMexiKen.
NewMexiKen also faults McCain for citing Ronald Reagan, who tripled the federal deficit during his tenure, as his model for how to balance the federal budget.
Barack Obama was President of the Harvard Law Review and was a law professor at the elite University of Chicago Law School before entering politics. Hillary Clinton was likewise academically excellent (and went to Yale Law School) and was a corporate lawyer.
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This is an intriguing subject: How intelligent does a president need to be? Steve Sailer (at the link listed) argues that too smart may not be a favorable characteristic in a presidential candidate.
"Still, this doesn't mean that IQ is not desirable in a President, all else being equal. The problem is that all else is not equal. There are so few people at the far right end of the IQ bell curve that you can't always find amongst them all the other Presidential talents you need."
I think McCain has several other problems that dwarf his apparently low "relative" IQ. These include his inability to control his temper and his lack of desire to master some of the basic issues with which every president must deal. His apparent inability to "do his homework" on some of the important issues such as the players in Iraq or basic economics spring to mind.
Even so, McCain has some significant strengths in his favor, not the least of which is the formidable backing -- conscious or not -- of the media which portrays him as the straight talking war hero and which appears to grant him more leeway than the other candidates.
http://www.vdare.com/sailer/041028_iq.htm
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