Thread:Comments:United States re-elects Barack Obama/A truly terrible day, IMO./reply (10)

That's a fantastic phonetic representation of a Georgian accent. Carter was no doubt a rocky start to your following politics.

I'm inclined to agree that substantive issues and ideology played a key role in this election relative to any other in recent memory (the U.S. political climate these days is the most polarized it's been in recent history and seems to be getting worse, a process catalyzed by movements like the Tea Party and Occupy). But I can't help but think Obama's charisma had to have played a role in his rapid ascension to the Presidency (remember, he was an obscure state senator a mere four years prior to being elected President). There really couldn't have been a better time than 2008 for a candidate like Obama to run. That said, people seemed to have perceived some degree of substance in Obama's platform (relative to the poll-tested talking points of the McCain campaign). We tend to like our leaders charismatic and opinionated, rather than dull and moderate (or pragmatic). Obama, so it seems, is both of the former and neither of the latter. Mitt Romney (and John McCain, for that matter), is neither of the former and both of the latter. Take, for instance, Bill Clinton. Pragmatic and moderate as he was, he was outstandingly charismatic to the point that when he told voters that he "felt their pain," people believed him. One would suspect that voters would be less inclined to believe this coming from Mitt Romney. Part of that is cultural bias, and part of it is the correlation between charisma and popularity/the likelihood of garnering votes from those who don't make their decisions until in the voting booth. Conventional wisdom in this election was most certainly on Romney's side--a weak economy, several unfulfilled promises, etc. I'm inclined to believe that a more charismatic candidate would better articulate the shortcomings of the Obama administration (they're there, I don't care what party you identify with, but no President's perfect), layout an alternative vision (which Romney did only in the final weeks of the campaign), and sway people to vote accordingly. Romney's failure in the first two led inherently to his failure in the third. That, to me, proves that charisma and delivery makes all the difference in a razor-thin contest like we've seen in 2012.