I regularly receive emails with collections of Bush misstatements (”Is our children learning?” etc. )that purport to prove him an idiot.

Much of Obama’s appeal is that, unlike Bush, Obama can talk smart. Talking smart doesn’t mean you act smart or are well informed, but it comforts people to hear a smooth talking president. You don’t need to be a leader, just play one convincingly on TV.

Still, when Obama gets off-script, he sounds very Bush like. 

Not long ago he referred to visiting “all 57 states.” Then he seemed surprised to learn that his home state of Illinois shared a border with Kentucky.

Powerline noticed this gem from yesterday:

On this Memorial Day, as our nation honors its unbroken line of fallen heroes — and I see many of them in the audience here today — our sense of patriotism is particularly strong.

What? Dead soldiers in the audience? (And what’s an “unbroken” line of fallen heroes?)

But the gaffe is a trifle compared with the mindset he displayed in the Q&A that followed. Read the Powerline post for more on that.