Columbia and Harvard Law, maybe? And no, you don't neccessarily have to be a genius to graduate from those schools, but you probably need to be a little sharper than your average UI grad.
What makes you think Palin would score higher on an IQ test? The fact that she's white and whites are inherently more intelligent than blacks?
I was razzing to some extent. If I really had something to lose at stake and was betting I would PROBABLY bet Obama has a higher IQ than Palin. But I would not be confident about the bet and would not be surprised if each took an IQ test and Palin scored higher.
There are asterisks by the Columbia and Harvard Law school things because of the fact that prestigious universities give preferential treatment to "under represented minority" group members during the admissions process. I think that if you were to randomly select a Black male at either Columbia or at Harvard Law school at any particular time you would be overwhelmingly likely to select someone who would not have been granted admission to the school if they were not a member of an "under represented minority" group.
Also, I really do think it's likely that Obama's standardized test scores are not that impressive. I think he has established a pattern of public relations whereby if something makes him look good you can darn well be sure it'll be publicized and known while if it doesn't make him look good you're not going to see it. And there is absolutely no information at all on what this guy scored like on standardized tests on line. I strongly believe that if he had standardized test or IQ scores somewhere that are consistent with the perception that he is extremely bright we would be seeing them all over the place. We would not have difficulty in finding them.
The conspicuous absence of any information in cyberspace that would allow for an objective assessment of his general raw intelligence level makes me strongly suspect that his test scores would cause people go give second thought to the idea that he is "the smartest guy in the room," ect. I'm not saying I wouldn't expect them to indicate he's more intelligent than average. But I would not be surprised, for example, to find that his SAT score was lower than George W. Bush's. That sort of thing.
Remember, coming off as articulate does not tell you everything. For example: John F. Kennedy was a very effective speaker. He was great at presentation. Articulate. And he is known to have scored 119 on an IQ test. That's smarter than average. But not "smartest guy in the room" stuff. Meanwhile George W. Bush scored 1206 on his SAT. If you estimate his IQ score based on that using the chart at
http://iqcomparisonsite.com/Pre1974SAT.aspx" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; (pre 1974 SAT) you get 129. So it's reasonable to believe that George W. Bush has an IQ at least comparable to and probably higher than John F. Kennedy's. But, obviously, Bush is not the most articulate person in the world. He does not come off well in presentation.
That's the thing. You can't assume someone has a very high IQ because they speak well and come off well in presentation. Also, you can't tell someone does NOT have a high IQ because they're NOT that good at public speaking and presentation. And you can't assume Obama is really Ivy League material because he's Black and being Black means he had a chance to get in even if he wasn't really Ivy League material in terms of what those schools allow in.
If it's a White male who got into an Ivy league school and they aren't "connected" you can pretty much assume they're in the top 1% of the intelligence distribution. But you can't assume that if it's a Black male. Not at all. It is what it is.
And yes I know George W. Bush also got preferential treatment on a different basis.
That be racists.
