A really interesting column on Ted Kennedy, Palin and Churchill

[Monkeyleg]

I stumbled across this column and thought it made some great points. Whether or not you like Sarah Palin, I think the author is spot on.

The column is here

[Standing Wolf]

...like Ted Kennedy, Sarah Palin has a gift. An ability to make Americans focus on the issue of the day -- and likewise the head of the table ability to lead the country in a specific direction. In fact, she just did it on health care, making her sentiments plain with a Kennedy-style "Robert Bork's America" pronouncement. No other losing vice-presidential candidate in American history has drawn this kind of attention -- whether the passionate applause or the enraged disdain -- as Sarah Palin. Every time her enemies disparage her it only serves to underline the point, just as Ted Kennedy's enemies did the same with him.

The article is definitely worth reading, though the author's "head of the table" motif didn't impress me as going the whole distance. It's a snack when a meal is wanted.

[longeyes]

Charisma is a loaded gun; what matters is where it's pointed.

Beware of the cult of celebrity--even when the celebrity's one of yours.

[MicroBalrog]

Charisma is a loaded gun; what matters is where it's pointed.

Beware of the cult of celebrity--even when the celebrity's one of yours.

These two are mutually opposed statements.

[longeyes]

Not really.  My point is that "charisma" is not the basis for sound representation, sound government.  I see charisma as a branch of the entertainment ethos that has insinuated itself into the American psyche to an alarming degree.

[MicroBalrog]

History is shaped - to an extent - by the actions of individuals. Sometimes, a great individual grabs the wheel of history and stops it, or swings it. Thomas Jefferson, Napoleon, Hitler, George Washington, Ghandi, Churchill - some good men, some abominably evil, have done so. If you spot a man like this who's good, there's no shame in following him.

[longeyes]

I think we need to differentiate between people with great ideas and people with great "presence."  There is no cult around Thomas Jefferson, just a recognition of his brilliance and integrity.  Jefferson knew that The Great Man was never a solution in a republic of free souls.  A society that needs "great men" to guide it is already a society where individuals have become stunted.

[grampster]

Humble charisma may be term worth thinking about with respect to a leader in modern day America.

That person should be solid in her beliefs and unafraid to vigorously pursue them on a national stage, while at the same time be folksy.

[Monkeyleg]

I think we need to differentiate between people with great ideas and people with great "presence."

True. Reagan and Churchill had both. Palin has the foundation but not the details required, although the details can be acquired with study. She has the ability to draw people to her. If she's going anywhere in politics she'll need to prove her "gravitas" (I hate that term) even more than other political figures because the constant media barrage has had an effect on her image.

Obama seems to have a presence, but it's a facade.

[grampster]

Obama's presence is like a bad drug test:  False positive.

[Perd Hapley]

Obama's presence is like my Dad used to say of our fixer-upper handyman's dream house; "It's got character, but it's all bad character." 

[Standing Wolf]

Obama seems to have a presence, but it's a facade.

I've never read anything he's said that wasn't a string of tired old cliches. His purported "eloquence" sounds canned and trite to my ear.