Can all these smart people be wrong?

Here are some of the people who have endorsed Barack Obama for a second term as President of the United States. 

This is not an all-inclusive list; I have only listed a very few of the people I thought you might find interesting or surprising.  I did not include the prodigious number of athletes and entertainers who have endorsed President Obama.

Here is a complete, extremely well-sourced list if you care to peruse it. 

Former Republican elected officials:

• Sen. Lincoln Chafee (R-RI), current Governor of Rhode Island (I-RI)
• Sen. Larry Pressler (R-SD)
• Gov. Charlie Crist (I-FL); Republican while in office

National political figures and former cabinet officials

• Richard A. Clarke, former National Coordinator for Security, Infrastructure Protection, and Counter-terrorism for the United States
• Douglas Kmiec, United States Ambassador to Malta, legal aide to former President Reagan
• Candace Gingrich, half-sister of Republican 2012 Presidential candidate Newt Gingrich
• Colin Powell, former United States Secretary of State, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, National Security Advisor, four-star General (Ret.) (Republican)

Military

• Wesley Clark, four star General (Ret), former Supreme Allied Commander Europe of NATO
• Richard Danzig, former Secretary of the Navy
• Paul Eaton, Major General (Ret)
• Donald J. Guter, retired U.S. Navy Rear Admiral, former Judge Advocate General of the Navy, current Dean, South Texas College of Law
• Michael D. Lumpkin, former Acting Assistant Secretary / Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Special Operations/Low Intensity Conflict, former Navy Seal Commander, Master's Degree in National Security from the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey
• John B. Nathman, retired U.S. Navy Admiral, co-chair

Business people

• Jeffrey Brotman, Founder of Costco
• James Sinegal, Founder and former CEO of Costco
• Jon Corzine, Former CEO of Goldman Sachs, CEO and Chairman of MF Global, Former Governor of New Jersey and US Senator
• Nathaniel Fick, CEO of the Center for a New American Security, author of One Bullet Away, a New York Times best seller
• Bill Gates, Microsoft founder and CEO
• David Geffen, Founder of Asylum Records, Geffen Records, and DGC Records; cofounder of DreamWorks SKG
• Berry Gordy, Founder of the Motown record label
• Steven J. Green, former CEO and Chairman of Samsonite Corporation and United States Ambassador to Singapore
• Gary Hirshberg, Chairman, President, and CEO of Stonyfield Farm
• Jeffrey Katzenberg, CEO of DreamWorks Animation
• Marissa Mayer, CEO of Yahoo!
• Sheryl Sandberg, COO of Facebook
• Russell Simmons, Cofounder of Def Jam
• Eric Schmidt, former CEO of Google
• Steve Westly, Venture Capitalist and Fmr. California State Controller
• Warren Buffett, CEO of Berkshire Hathaway

Labor unions

• AFL-CIO
• AFSCME
• American Federation of Teachers
• American Nurses Association
• Communications Workers of America
• International Association of Fire Fighters
• International Union of Bricklayers and Allied Craftworkers
• National Education Association
• SEIU

Organizations

• Clean Water Action
• Environment America
• Gay-Straight Alliance
• Human Rights Campaign
• League of Conservation Voters
• National Organization for Women
• Planned Parenthood
• Sierra Club
• The Advocate

Writers

• Maya Angelou
• Judy Blume
• Deepak Chopra
• Roger Ebert
• Elizabeth Gilbert
• Stephen King
• Anne Lamott
• Toni Morrison
• Maurice Sendak
• Lemony Snicket

Nobel Prize Laureates

Economics

• Michael Spence, 2001
• Joseph Stiglitz, 2001
• Paul Krugman,

Science

• Alexei Abrikosov, Physics, 2003
• Peter Agre, Chemistry, 2003
• Sidney Altman, Chemistry, 1989
• Philip Anderson, Physics, 1977
• David Baltimore, Medicine 1975
• Paul Berg, Chemistry, 1980
• J. Michael Bishop, Medicine, 1989
• Elizabeth Blackburn, Medicine, 2009
• Günter Blobel, Medicine, 1999
• Nicolaas Bloembergen, Physics, 1981
• Linda Buck, Medicine, 2004
• Mario Capecchi, Medicine, 2007
• Martin Chalfie, Chemistry, 2008
• Leon Cooper, Physics, 1972
• James Cronin, Physics, 1980
• Robert Curl, Chemistry, 1996
• Johann Deisenhofer, Chemistry, 1988
• Edmond Fischer, Medicine, 1992
• Val Fitch, Physics, 1980
• Jerome Friedman, Physics, 1990
• Murray Gell-Mann, Physics, 1969
• Walter Gilbert, Chemistry, 1980
• Donald Glaser, Physics, 1960
• Sheldon Glashow, Physics, 1979
• Roy Glauber, Physics, 2005
• Joseph Goldstein, Medicine, 1985
• Paul Greengard, Medicine, 2000
• Carol Greider, Medicine, 2009
• David Gross, Physics, 2004
• Robert Grubbs, Chemistry, 2005
• Roger Guillemin, Medicine, 1977
• John Hall, Physics, 2005
• Leland Hartwell, Medicine, 2001
• Alan Heeger, Chemistry, 2000
• Dudley Herschbach, Chemistry, 1986
• Roald Hoffmann, Chemistry, 1981
• H. Robert Horvitz, Medicine, 2002
• David Hubel, Medicine, 1981
• Eric Kandel, Medicine, 2000
• Brian Kobilka, Chemistry, 2012
• Roger Kornberg, Chemistry, 2006
• Leon Lederman, Physics, 1988
• Robert Lefkowitz, Chemistry, 2012
• John Mather, Physics, 2006
• Craig Mello, Medicine, 2006
• Mario Molina, Chemistry, 1995
• Douglas Osheroff, Physics, 1996
• Arno Penzias, Physics, 1978
• Martin Perl, Physics, 1995
• David Politzer, Physics, 2004
• Stanley Prusiner, Medicine, 1997
• Burton Richter, Physics, 1976
• Richard Schrock, Chemistry, 2005
• Hamilton Smith, Medicine, 1978
• Oliver Smithies, Medicine, 2007
• George Smoot, Physics, 2006
• Thomas Steitz, Chemistry, 2009
• Jack Szostak, Medicine, 2009
• Charles Townes, Physics, 1964
• Roger Tsien, Chemistry, 2008
• Daniel Tsui, Physics, 1998
• James Watson, Medicine, 1962
• Carl Wieman, Physics, 2001
• Eric Wieschaus, Medicine, 1995
• Frank Wilczek, Physics, 2004
• Robert Wilson, Physics, 1978

There is a similarly well-sourced list for Mitt Romney if you are interested in it. 

What I found most noteable about Romney's list is that there are far fewer athletes, entertainers, military brass and writers.   Also fewer porn stars.  Oh, and no Nobel prize winners. 

Romney's list contains many, many more Republican state legislators than Obama's list.  What this tells me is that these legislators have their marching orders from their state Republican committees.  I found it telling that the references for these endorsements mostly came from the Romney campaign. 

(Note that these lists are from Wikipedia and they are subject to the enthusiasm and attention of their editors.)