Presidential Meanderings: Charm's the Thing

Presidential Meanderings

Let me first say that, as a registered Republican, I will undoubtedly and aggressively support Barack Obama in his candidacy as president should he get the nomination. He is stronger than any other candidate—democrat, republican, or whatever. More on that in a few minutes . . .

The presidential election process is such a funny thing to watch in our American culture, and I would guess that the whole affair is exclusive to, in fact, the United States (meaning: this stuff doesn’t happen anywhere else in the world). Essentially, since the fall, we have been watching pasty white old rich men (and one half-man named Hillary) try to create false ethos with their constituents; it is the epitome of awkwardness, and I become so entertained. “Ethos” is the word Aristotle used for describing a speaker’s attempt to create rapport with their audience; in other words, ethos is when we try to “identify” with whom we are speaking. A classic case would be when the first Bush (the one who “really” got elected) campaigned in New Hampshire for the primary and abandoned his rich Yale suits for jeans and an LL Bean red flannel shirt—obviously he was trying to fit in with “everyone in New Hampshire” because they all dressed like that.

You see rich, un-charming politicians hopelessly and awkwardly trying to fit in. Mike Huckabee plays bass in a sub-mediocre version of “Johnny B. Good.” John Edwards goes down south, wearing jeans and a sport shirt (oh . . and a newly done 400 dollar haircut) to talk to poor voters. Romney lies about how he’s been a hunter all his life, even though he’s never hunted. Hillary Clinton MUST be the candidate of the Latino voters, since, on her visit to LA last week, she ate tacos with the city’s mayor—wow Hillary, you must REALLY identify with Latino people. As a side note, I heard a story on NPR last week about how one of the LA newspapers has an inter-office bet to see which one of the candidates, when visiting LA prior to Super Tuesday, will be the first to (ridiculously) don a sombrero in a futile attempt to make themselves look appealing to Latino voters.

We laugh, but are we being duped? Let’s face it: when the whole election comes down to it, its all about charm, isn’t it? This may sound cynical, but what exactly does a president DO?? They are all the same; they all do relatively nothing on their “own.” They surround themselves with a cabinet who basically does all the leg work. Congress does a lot. And, for the 4 days that they Maine legislature is in session, I bet they do some real work too (like Peter Mills writing REALLY important legislation so brave and selfless VFWs can’t “bet” on their Cribbage games at VFW halls). When it all comes down to it, I believe the function of the POTUS is to charm us; he should possess the ability to calm, inspire, instill hope, exude confidence, and convince us that he is equipped to handle the job. Obama does this.

You may take offense to this, I realize, because you don’t want to admit that Americans are so shallow that we should vote on charm. But, I would argue, the whole election process is flawed in that it presumes the notion that Americans, as individuals, aren’t intellectually or emotionally “equipped” to handle electing a president on their own. This is why . . .well . . .we aren’t allowed to DO IT on our own; we have the Electoral College to “help” us because we’re so inept (sarcasm meant here). Eight years ago Gore won the “popular” vote, meaning that more American bodies voted for him than the idiot. But the idiot got elected because he got more “electoral” votes.

Obama is a charming and believable candidate; he has the stature, the rhetorical ability, and confidence to be president. I believe what he says more than any of the other candidates—maybe I’m just mesmerized by him, but so what? What else is there to go on with any of the other candidates? Do you realize that if Hillary is elected president, then at the end of her first term it will be 24 straight years where we’ve had either a Clinton or a Bush in the white house? Are we England now? We do not live in a Monarchy folks, even though the Clintons and Bush’s seem to think so. More so the Bush’s. Obama is a breath of fresh air. He is new. He has hot girls who like him. And I think you should vote for him.