It makes a ton of sense when if you concede that every single time you say it (well, really, say anything) it's done in context. You rarely say someone is "smart, without qualification" and even if you did it really absolutely means something more like "smart in most of the ways I admire and have observed that person performing".

Which is really total agreement with your point. "Smart" is as much a partial ordering as "friendly" is, for a lot of the same reasons.