My guess is that Bush associates exercise with discipline, and associates a lack of discipline with his younger, boozehound days. "The president," said Fleischer, "finds [exercise] very healthy in terms of … keeping in shape. But it's also good for the mind." The notion of a connection between physical and mental potency is, of course, silly. (Consider all the perfectly toned airheads in Hollywood — or, perhaps, the president himself.) But Bush's apparent belief in it explains why he would demand well-conditioned economic advisors and Supreme Court justices.
Is it really "silly" to believe that physical exercise has mental benefits? I've heard plenty of very smart people profess that belief. Personally, I'm not interested in exercise. I'm happy to walk a lot and have good stamina, but I don't set aside time in my day just for the purpose of exercising. And all that strenuous, self-improvement stuff people do -- ugh! I'd rather improve my mind with the traditional intellectual efforts: reading, writing, stimulating conversation, and plain old thinking. (All of which I can do while walking, by the way.) So I'm not personally following the exercise-for-the-mind plan. But is it silly to think exercise is good for the mind?
I do think it's silly to think that exercise is necessary for the mind. (It would be bad news for the very old and the disabled!) Right? But perhaps it is justified to form a negative assessment about the judgment and diligence of a person who is overweight and flabby, as Bush seems to do. What do you think? Is it unfair prejudice in hiring to make inferences about the mental capacities of a person who is in bad physical shape?
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Yes, but he's applying these standard more widely than that, according to the article.
Some of the most intimidating intellects are not found in hardbodies: Christopher Hitchens, Chris Matthews, Tim Russert... To name a few.
How one presents themself may say something about their self-discipline but one can be overweight and still look classy, and vice versa.
I share Bush's love of exercise but am vain and afraid of death, not trying to improve a mind that remains as simple as pre-dumbells 5 years ago.
And I'm not sure Chait isn't just being a jerk either; taking a little info and turning it onto a typical LA Times Bash-Bush-at-any-possible-opening-athon.
Mojican: Sounds like a cure for impotence too.
Well, what Jonathan Chait said was "he notion of a connection between physical and mental potency is, of course, silly." That statement is silly. Of course there is a connection. It may be weak---it certainly isn't perfect---but it's there. For Jonathan Chait to dismiss it so categorically---well, now that's silly.
If you're satisfied with your mental potency, then I see no reason to increase your physical exercise regimen to boost it. And if you're not satisfied with your mental potency, and you're a couch potato---well, I say you need to read and exercise more :)
That leaves a pretty wide middle ground.
Fiddlesticks! I think the underlying, societal obsession with exercise is essentially sexual in nature - wanting to look good for a mate or potential mate. I would'nt mind going to a health club to ogle some of the young women athletes and my wife darn well knows it. Where does this notion come from that Georgie is obsessed with excercise anyway? He does some running, sure, but probably because Laura tells him to get the hell out of her sight for a while, so it's either work or go for a run. I see Bush as lazy in many respects and opting for a jog with the secret service boys instead of haggling with advisors.
I find that when I can't run regularly because of my schedule or an injury, I definitely feel slower mentally. But I don't think that anyone who isn't exercising is somehow less mentally agile than me.
With Bush, I would guess it's the idea of the discipline behind an exercise regime that he wants to see in those who work for him. That's fine, but it's also sort of like people who expect *everyone* to suddenly get with the program and quit smoking as soon as they do.
Goesh -- Exercise has to do with a lot more than sex. It's also has to do with energy and stamina and-- Well, maybe you're right.
Knoxgirl: It's so sweet of you to acknowledge that those people who don't run daily aren't as mentally agile as you!
Oh, and it's "...somehow less mentally agile than I." I guess you haven't run yet today!
Well, I think it's still considered perfectly acceptable to attack people who are not in good physical shape. There's all kinds of posturing about this, ranging from Raising Health Care Costs, to bland aesthetic complaints, but the notion that the out of shape are fair game is still acceptable. (The defenses of them strike me as "victim" defenses, which produce their own backlash)
On the other hand, if Chiat can convience Hollywood body facists not to exercise because Bush does it, maybe we'll like them more because they'll look more like the rest of us...
Ploopusgirl:
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Gerry -- "I find the concept that Bush fired Lindsey because he wouldn't exercise to be suspect. After all, he hired him in the first place!"
Heheheh. Lack of exercise may not affect one's intelligence but BushRage sure does.
On a completely different topic because you have more swing in the blogsphere than I -- check out this post: http://www.gaypatriot.net/blog/archives/000386.php
I think it's brilliant and in need of more attention than my little link can give it.
So Jonathan Chait writes a mini-hit-piece on Bush and his "fixation" with exercise and the world is abuzz with negative angles.
Just the other day some kook was lobbying for warning lables on sodas in order to save our obese children and I swear he was on every channel with "news people" fawning all over him.
And one wonders why the MSM is losing credibility?
Gerry -- great! I sent it to him a few minutes before bringing it up to you.
I agree with others who have said that Bush is probably looking for discipline when he looks for exercisers.
From my experience it does seem that those who exercise are, generally speaking, more disciplined that those who do not. (And as say this as one of the ones who does not.)
We probably should be concerned about the President's exercise regime only when he appears on TV showing off his abs or making Cabinet officers and foreign diplomats take laps around the South Lawn(remember Teddy?)
We can distinguish between stocking and using the mind. The stocking I've accomplished while exercising - say, memorizing vocabulary lists - has been of a relatively low level. That said, it seemed to be efficient - learn 200 words at 90% renention during a walk, or memorize a sonnet. But even slightly more difficult tasks, as for instance following a complex sorites via listening to books on tape while rowing, has not been as efficient. The concentration decays.
But I've noticed, not just in myself but in teams, that you can get something of the effectiveness of oneiric processing from exercise. The decay of concentration while exercising induces subtler mental state. Start a long run or ride with a particular problem to be solved, or a difficult paragraph to work out, and it soon seeps down and away from consciousness. Later, after, the answer is available, presented by the unconscious.
One use of a liberal arts education is the time you spend at shit jobs before finding a career. If you let yourself, you can use shit jobs to gain a real appreciation for the varieties of intelligence. There are inarticulate types who can somehow come up with the most amazingly intricate, sequenced construction schemes. Or come up with systems for a job site that are ... Just. You can get something of the same by serving on a board of directors for a non-profit, or volunteering for a rural fire department or water supply district. They don't think the way you think. By college standards they are often dumb. But to see all these different types of intelligence, you have to shut up and turn off the assumption that if it isn't said or preferably written, it isn't smart. The insistence that Bush is dumb because he talks dumb cuts off perception of what he actually is. Suppose - never happen - they assumed he was smart, and looked for that evidence? I could talk lemniscates around my colleagues in the shit jobs. I had to learn to shut up and call out my own uncultivated talents to hear them; if you don't know something about mechanics, how can you recognize a genius mechanic? So, isn't it at least possible Bush has noticed the problem-solving gifts that come from exercise, and wants that from and for the people he selects?
"Physical fitness is not only one of the most important keys to a healthy body, it is the basis of dynamic and creative intellectual activity."
- John F. Kennedy
I don't remember people bashing JFK for promoting physical fitness in the early sixties and establishing the President's Council on Physical Fitness. However, I do remember the word "vigor" though that may have had more to do with the pronunciation of the word than what it meant.
I suspect Bush's advice to Judge J. Harvie Wilkinson about cross-training was nothing more than the sharing of wisdom by a former runner on the dangers of over-doing it. Runners are notorious for becoming hooked on the endorphins readily released by their activity and then doing permanent damage to joints and connective tissues, usually their knees.
I do think it's unfair to make inferences about the mental capacities of someone who is not physically fit as there are a number of reasons for lack of fitness - some that are beyond an individual's control.
I'm pretty into running and triathlon. I'm also a law student. My triathlon friends are in awesome shape. My Law School friends, for the most part, are not. I assure you, the first group is NOT the smarter group.
Professor Althouse, can you really write while walking?
lindsey, that is also my experience... I find there's a big difference in my mood (for the positive) if I exercise regularly.
It's 95 here in Philly and I am leaving the office early to take a nice long walk/hike in the Wissahickon Park. It's where I do my bestest thinking and I suggest Mr. Chait try it out.
Danny asks: "Can you really write while walking?" I wouldn't want to write out a first draft while walking, but I would read a print out and make notations on it while walking and I would structure and compose a first draft in my head.
I'm all for the life of the mind--you go, Ann Althouse. But I think regular exercise is an important part of a balanced life. And by exercise, I mean physical exertion, not necessarily some regimented cardio or strength training regime.
I'm not going to read the article or write GWB to confirm this, but I would like to believe the president values having a balanced life enough to inquire of a candidate for the Supreme Court whether or not he or she has one.
Of course Jonathan Alter thinks it's silly: he knows it must be silly if W believes it.
Chait: "My guess is that Bush associates exercise with discipline, and associates a lack of discipline with his younger, boozehound days."
I have a simpler explanation: Bush, like many people who are confident in their abilities but aware of their shortcomings, is attracted to people who have skills that he lacks. He seems to have difficulty riding a bicycle, ergo, he wants to maximize the chances that someone on his staff (or SCOTUS) can teach him how to ride without falling off or hitting a stationary object.
Now, I wonder if during their meeting, GW offered Judge Roberts a pretzel...
Chuck: "Regimented cardio or strength training regime"? So a regime alone is not enough. It must be a regimented regime. Why not go ever further and demand a regimented regime of regimentation? The whole thing seemed too damned regimented to me. I used to go to the health club three or four times a week and do the machines for an hour. Then one day I realized I don't want to live like that. Which is kind of my motto.
And as for "cardio" -- it never worked on me. My heartbeat or whatever never changed at all. Seemed like an immense waste of effort.
As for being "balanced" or well-rounded, I don't think exercising a lot makes people interesting. It's more likely to make people boring. They might be more alert and healthy, but what do they have to talk about? How much they can bench press and how many miles they run? There are no good conversation topics in that experience.
Since physical fitness corelates to increased endurance then those who are fit will be able to think more clearly when tired and under stress - at least that's what they told me in the Army while on training exercises where I would go three days with less than eight hours sleep.
"As for being 'balanced' or well-rounded, I don't think exercising a lot makes people interesting."
I said balanced, not interesting. And I didn't say exercise a lot, I said regular.
Selective reading makes people seem defensive and hostile, which is also not very interesting.
President Bush is renowned for evaluating people based on the vibe he gets off of them. In the face of tremendous evidence to the contrary, he's stated his confidence that Vladimir Putin is a good guy. My guess is that our exercise-obsessed President made extensive small talk with all the potential nominees, looking for the personal connection in which he invests so much currency. They talked about exercise because it's a subject of personal interest to GWB. Your body shape and level of fitness may not say much about your character, but to this President the way you shoot the poop does.
My (Independent Soures) postion is that the op-ed piece was moronic. So much so in fact we've issued an Exercise Challenge to Jonathan Chait. Read about it at:
LAT Exercise Challenge
Doesn't this guy know that there is an obesity crisis in this country and that exercise is actually a good thing?
It's possible that Bush was trying to ascertain if a person's discipline is characterized by their committment to exercise.
Or, it's possible he's just looking for one more person to work out with.
Chait has a lot of energy, apparently, to devote to less-than-consequential matters.
Exercising clears the mind. It must affect brain chemistry: yes, it elevates and evens mood, blows away depression, puts things back in perspective, leaves you feeling calm and alert.
Also, an exercise habit is a sign of discipline. Exercise is hard to make yourself start doing, so if you do it regularly anyway, it's a sign (to Bush, maybe) that you will not drop the ball when it comes to doing any of the other difficut but important things you have to do in your job and your life.
Finally, I'm sure Chait is right that Bush considers his daily exercise a kind of talisman against the lazy habits of his aimless, drinking days. As such he may be a little superstitious/compulsive about it, and he may be projecting his own need to exercise daily or fall apart morally onto others.
Thanks, Biff!
Again, about Biff's comments: I'm especially glad to see that "range of performance" point, which represents a key logical error made by Chait.
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