In L. Frank Baum’s classic novel "The Wonderful Wizard of Oz," the lovable but clumsy Scarecrow famously laments to Dorothy how much better his life would be “if I only had a brain,” then spends the rest of the novel - or the next two hours of MGM’s film adaptation - desperately seeking the Great and Powerful Oz to grant him his request.
The existential question of what life would be like with a functioning brain is apparently a query President Joe Biden has grappled with as well - the difference between the Scarecrow and Joe Biden being, of course, that the Scarecrow eventually gets his wish. Whether Biden's got anything in his cranium, on the other hand, is anyone's guess.
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Speaking Monday at the International Association of Fire Fighters Legislative Conference, Biden told of his experiences with not one, but two brain aneurysms back in February of 1988 for which he required surgery, during which he joked that even doctors weren't sure if he had any gray matter upstairs.
BIDEN: "I was diagnosed with having a — anyway — they had to take the top of my head off a couple times to see if I had a brain..." 🤡 pic.twitter.com/hB1zsFeH36
— Clown World ™ 🤡 (@ClownWorld_) March 6, 2023
"If I only had a brain." For both the Scarecrow and Biden, it's a good question.
In Baum's original story, the Wizard eventually gifts the Scarecrow with a "brain" made out of scrap items, a symbolic gesture to highlight that the Scarecrow has actually been intelligent all along.
As for the latter, we’re still wondering.