The general consensus, as reported by America’s media outlets, is that President Obama’s speech regarding the Gulf oil spill was “boring.”

I missed the broadcast, though I read a transcript, and I wasn’t particularly impressed; while there was some good information there, it didn’t hit the mark for me. I was upset that the call to action for new, renewable, safe energy development he seemed to want to call for never materialized (the best way to avoid further oil disasters like this is to not depend on oil, after all – America really should be pouring effort into alternative energy). I though he mentioned God too much (it felt too much like pandering to people who will oppose anything he does on principle), and personally, it bothers me that he continues to use the phrase “make no mistake” (because I really dislike that construct of language…and I’m far from the only one).

At least he didn’t say “British Petroleum” this time.

Still, while it didn’t have all I would have liked to see, I wouldn’t call it “boring” – it was mostly a calm and measured summary of “what we know so far, and what we’re doing to fix it.” If some consider it boring, though, I’m okay with that as long as the talk leads to results. Which there were, at least the beginnings of them, with the establishment of the twenty billion escrow/reparations account announced the next day.

In any case, what really bothers me about the “boring” characterization is the reports by an alleged language “expert” (who, incidentally is not really an expert, but more of an attention whore), that americans supposedly found the speech dull because it went over the head of much of the audience, because it was, by his judgement, written on a 10th grade level, and that’s apparently too complex for the average American.

Even given the link from earlier, and this particular “expert” being debunked by another expert within the same CNN article, there’s still a serious issue at work here; the fact that, questionable logic aside, there’s enough anti-intellectual, gut-over-brain sentiment in this country that somebody could get traction with the argument that the reading and comprehension levels we use as the standard for your average fifteen year old in this country was too “academic,” too “professorial,” and not “ordinary” enough for Americans.

And further, why are vast swaths of the American public not offended by this assertion?

As big a problem as this oil spill is, and it is a HUGE HULKING PROBLEM that will haunt us for decades, the fact that as a people, we’re perfectly willing to admit, hell, to take pride in the fact that sophomore english is too difficult for us to understand is probably, in the long-term, a bigger one.

While I won’t presume to speak for anyone else, this sort of attitude really concerns me. How are we ever going to solve the complex scientific and sociological problems we face as a Nation if we can’t make education a priority and being educated something admirable? How can someone consider America “the Greatest Nation in the World” while ignoring the asterisk that points out that we’re actually 29th greatest when it comes to achievement in science education?

I want the President to be the smartest person in the room, and for a problem the scale of the Gulf Oil spill, I want the room to be filled with the world’s best scientists, environmentalists, and engineers. I don’t want them speaking “from the gut” or showing anger – I want them to be calmly and logically discussing, planning and implementing solutions to fix the problem as quickly and permanently as possible; not bickering about emotional issues like blame; there’ll be plenty of time for that after the practical matters are dealt with.

Thankfully, for the most part, that seems like what the President is at least trying to do (this is not to say that I think he’s completely succeeding just yet).

But, if Americans can’t come back around considering being intelligent, educated and erudite as positive things, and not things to be looked down on by “real” americans who don’t go in for all that book-learnin’ and pride themselves on approaching everything from gut instinct, we’re going to be in even worse shape when the next disaster hits.