The most problematic part of Oedipus Rex for me is the fact that he was running the country. On the surface, he may appear to have all of the qualifications necessary for a leader - he has a strong voice, great credentials, a moral conscience, and experience in problem solving. Dig an inch deeper, and his story falls apart.
Firstly, he may have solved the Sphinx riddle by some fluke, but he does not possess much intelligence beyond that. Any idiot could see the similarities in Laios's prophecy and Oedipus's, whether they feel innocent or not. Instead of viewing the claim that he wasn't Polybos's child with mild interest and only a passing glance, Oedipus ought to have started interrogating himself the moment he heard that story.
Also, having a leader who kills someone out of mere road rage doesn't seem like the best idea. Does Oedipus show any fairness in this act? Decency? A little understanding for others? Not by any stretch of the imagination.
Wrinkles
"It isn't so much that I lost my way as that I got blown off course. . . . I shall just sit down for a moment and pop on my boots and then I'll be on my way. Speaking of ways, pet, by the way, there is such thing as a tesseract." – Mrs. Whatsit, A Wrinkle in Time
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But I mean...really. How can you connect dots that aren't even on the same page? Iocasta was Oedipus's wife, the mother of his children. Nowhere in at least one of his two minds was there the tiniest inkling that she was his mother as well. I think that Oedipus was actually genuinely intelligent, which makes the story all the more tragic. If the mental equivalent of a brick were to discover that he was party to incest, readers would be like, "What an idiot." But when you've got this noble, bright guy who's life becomes a snowglobe in the hands of a three year old, then we're all like, "Well, damn. That really sucks."
So, although I do agree with your condemnation of excessive road rage, I have to say that I think Oedipus is truly an intelligent guy who solved a riddle with an answer that he never saw coming. And really, what is strikingly ironic about the whole thing, is that it was this intelligence and this nobility that left his life a shattered sphere of cheap plastic in a puddle of water, dotted with fake snow, surrounded by a faint echo of a pleasant tune.
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