Re: Barack Obama

Actually I found Obama to be pretty damn charismatic. His delivery was near impeccable. Now his political views seemed to be a little less progressive than I'd like, but that guy is going places. Maybe not the White House, but that's not a guy who's going to fade away any time soon.

I agree with you on the delivery, the guy is definitely a good speaker, but I felt that my opinion was a little skewed in his favor due to his proximity to Jimmy Carter's I'm-so-senile-that-uhhh-I-forget-what-I-was-talikng-about speech. He's saying the same damned rhetoric, though, and to me, that makes him a slick talker, but not really charismatic. I think political charisma is defined by action and an ability to garner support based on people's relatively superficial impressions, and I don't recall him speaking about any issues of actual relevance, or those he did touch on he just offered the standard party line with some nice verbal flourishes. My problem with Obama is that he has these tools (good oratorical skills, TV-friendly looks, etc...), but there's nothing behind them. Maybe this is a gripe that comes out of my b
eing already far left of the Dems, but when someone who has all the skills and doesn't use
them right, they come off as sleazy and self-interested rather than charismatic. Jimmy Swaggart is pretty charismatic, too, but I think that guy's Satan incarnate (ironically enough). The reason is that his words may sound good in a lyrical sense, and his smile may look pretty damned benevolent, but the picture the words paint (not to mention Swaggart's particular hypocrisies) leave me feeling like I just got aurally raped or something.

Not to compare Obama to Swaggart, obviously that's insane. It's just that I think this guy's not saying anything that sounds good to my ideologically-tuned ears, which makes the problem on my end. I got suckered into being excited about this guy cuz I thought he might actually speak to my ideas about things, based on all the press he got and his name, but it's just the same old shit. When will I learn?

I guess I'll go with the anti-charisma, pro-good-politics candidate AGAIN.

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