Intelluctualism vs anti-intellectualism

I am in the middle of Susan Jacoby's book The Age of Unreason which is her update of Hofstadter's Anti-intellectualism in American Life. Bill Moyers interviewed her:http://www.pbs.org/moyers/journal/02152008/watch2.html
Here is the NYT review of the book: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/11/books/11kaku.html?_r=2&pagewanted=print&oref=slogin&oref=slogin
John Dean's comments on Obama's speech on race is a must read. Dean doesn't comment on the content per se, but on the intelligence and eloquence of the speech. Dean goes on to point out that we have been dumbing down America over the past 50 years: http://www.commondreams.org/archive/2008/03/21/7814/

Here is Obama's speech, if you happened to have somehow missed it:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/03/18/obama-race-speech-read-t_n_92077.html

BTW, Here is one of Rev. Wright's so-called incendiary sermon. As I tell my students go to the primary source and make up your own mind: http://www.rolandsmartin.com/blog/?p=147

For some analyses, including Roland Martin's:
http://www.alternet.org/blogs/peek/#80452 andhttp://ac360.blogs.cnn.com/2008/03/21/the-full-story-behind-rev-jeremiah-wrights-911-sermon/