that is correct, he can't pick stocks.
here's what it boils down to:
cramer is great at getting talented people around him.
if you read cramer's book (confessions), you'll see where he sells out at bottoms...and the thing that saved his firm was NOT him but his wife. he was selling...and, of course, his famous "winners of the world" was a classic example of buying at the top (link at:
http://users.sedona.net/~bemond/winners.htm ).
you'll also find out that he would pay high comissions to get information, then buy those stocks...
here's an article from realmoney where cramer states very clearly that he can't pick stocks well (longer term) and how he does it (short term).
http://www.thestreet.com/_tscs/comment/wrongrear/867444.html
pertinent quotes:
"I think you can invest better than I can. I don't think you can trade better than I can. In fact, I think I can out-trade you on most stocks, given that I get a call from every brokerage house and you don't."
note that this was when cramer was still at the hedge fund. once he decided to run his AA portfolio (which he then 'cancelled' the first one when it was underperforming), of course, he became a genius *cough* on longer term investing.
i was once a subscriber at realmoney, and cancelled because i couldn't stand giving money to someone who was so wrong, and rarely admitted it. before that point in time, i thought he was good. fortunately, i never lost any (big) money by his stock picks.