This is an “intellectual”? It’s certainly not a leader.

I keep hearing how smart Barack Obama is. The mainstream media loves to point at every opportunity that Obama is an “intellectual.” Well, if Obama is so darn smart then how is it he seemed caught off guard by an abortion question? He’s running for president, for cryin’ out loud.

[Reuters] Asked at what point a baby gets “human rights,” Obama, who strongly supports abortion rights, said: “… whether you’re looking at it from a theological perspective or a scientific perspective, answering that question with specificity … is above my pay grade.”

Above his pay grade? Well, who’s pay grade is it?

This was a dumb answer. Conversely, people aren’t stupid. They recognize a guy who’s just refusing to answer the question when they hear it.

Were Barack Obama as smart as we’re told, he would have taken a play out of the Bill Clinton “how to appear moderate enough to woo some evangelicals” playbook and replied, “Yes,” but abortion should be “safe, legal and rare,” as Clinton did. Or, he could have said, “Yes, but my personal beliefs on religion won’t as president infringe anther’s privacy and choice concerns,” something like that.

The point is, a polished, smart and experienced politico would have answered the question, which just underscores Obama’s lack of leadership. If he can’t answer a tough question before evangelicals, how’s he going to do with Vladimir Putin in the room? How’s he going to answer a tough question like, “Mr. President, how do want to respond to Iran’s missile launch on Tel Aviv?”

So frustrated are the Obama campaign and it’s media backers that they’re now, without any evidence, retorting that John McCain must have cheated during the forum, must have overheard the question, and been able to prepare an answer. NBC’s Andrea Mitchell was the most brazen about this, implying the charge must be true because, “He [McCain] seemed so well prepared.”

Set aside the fact that McCain has been in the Senate for decades, run for president before, and has lived a life of answering tough questions. Rather, let me point out that surely, when Obama accepted an invite to attend a televised town hall meeting hosted by one of the country’s biggest evangelical groups (the Saddleback Civil Forum on Presidency), he would have had to have known that the controversial “A” topic would come up, right? I mean, the abortion issue is what makes the evangelicals a voting block to begin with!

Indeed, it turns out that pastor Rick Warren called both McCain and Obama prior to the forum and gave them both examples of topics and questions he would ask because he wanted to avoid any deer in the headlights moment. So, the charge is simply without merit.

No, the truth of the matter is that the Obama camp had to have known such predictably religio-philosophical issues would come up during a religio-philosophical event, but by (bad) strategy they decided that Obama would just dodge the question.

Or, maybe it wasn’t that planned. Maybe, it’s just their nature.

Obama, and most of the liberal community, live in this world where everything is explained away with nuance. “These things are complicated,” we’re told. “They’re not black and white” as conservatives see them, we’re told (insulted).

Yes, indeed they are complicated. But “shades of gray” complication becomes the liberal excuse to never make a tough decision. It’s not that conservatives don’t see the gray areas, it’s that they realize that at the end of the day we — the president especially — have to make a decision and stick to it.

Not so with liberals. Thus, we have endless forums (like the United Nations) perpetually talking about what to do about, say, genocide in Darfur. What to do about Russia invasion of Georgia. What to do about Iranian nuclear proliferation. What to do, what to do, what to do? Just talk some more, say the liberals. After all, it’s nuanced! Can’t make a decision yet. Too complicated. Above our pay grade.

Career-wise, that works just fine and dandy for Capital Hill folks and state department diplomats. Not so much for presidents. Being president means making tough decisions that are often unpopular, and likely to tick off at least half the voting population. (Or worse, sometimes, as Bush as learned, you can make a decision that only partially appeases one’s base, meaning that both your opponents and most of your base constituents find your decisions unpopular — what I call the trap of trying to be the “moderate” president.)

This is going to be a close election. Everyone who remotely follows politics, and doesn’t kid themselves, knows that. Every election since 2000 has been tight, and with the exception of ’96 when Clinton defeated Dole handily, it’s been tight since 1992. But, Obama, by all facts, current events, and historical data, should have a clear advantage over McCain.

Why isn’t Obama pulling ahead?

He’s not ready. And people know it — It’s that simple.