Able to read character with uncanny accuracy. Wait...

Been following the last few months of civil war in Syria? Wouldn't blame you if you hadn't. Horrible atrocities, on both sides.

To review: The dictator is a guy named Bashir al Assad, son of the previous dictator who ruled for something like 25 years before old age got him. As often happens in cases like this, Junior is more brutal than dear ol' Dad but with even less charm.

Onto this stage in March of last year strolled the world's smartest woman, who offered her opinion:

There’s a different leader in Syria now. Many of the members of Congress of both parties who have gone to Syria in recent months have said they believe he’s a reformer.

The speaker, as you may have guessed, was the U.S. Secretary of State, Hillary Rodham Clinton, appearing on “Face the Nation,” March 27, 2011.

Stories like this make you wonder: Do the so-called elites really have a more accurate assessment of things than the rest of us, or is it, as so many have noted, that they only seem smart when they’re talking about stuff that we know nothing about?

h/t Wretchard at PJM