What's So Important About Being Likeable

When Bill Clinton was running for the presidency he made a guest appearance on the Arsenio Hall TV show. Naturally, since Arsenio was a liberal dufus he didn't ask any questions of the horn dog. The only thing about Clinton's visit that is still remembered today is that he put on a pair of shades and started blowing on the saxophone. The audience cheered and the general consensus was, 'isn't he a cool guy'? And, for the most part, this is how we elect Presidents.
I was in my old hometown in March and visited with a very nice, long time friend who is in her upper 80's. The television was on at low volume when the Communist-in-Chief showed up on the tube. She turned to me and said, "doesn't he seem like the nicest guy"?
Know what? I cut her some slack because I didn't want to ruin the visit and  since she was a Frank Sinatra love struck teen-ager  at the time I figured she's a die-hard FDR Democrat. There's no sense in trying to change their minds. Before mymom acquired dementia, two years ago, I took great pride in knowing I had turned her around. She started voting Republican. But, in the same breath, and stupidly on my part, I made a derogatory comment about F. Roosevelt. She went absolutely insane; started yelling at me about what a wonderful man he was and how he had saved the county. I decided to cut my losses and I shut up.
Getting back to the lady I visited. If I really wanted to say something of consequence and to be totally honest I would have said, "He isn't a nice guy" and then proceeded to tell her why. (1) Obama joined the Socialist Party in 1996 and is a card carrying member of the New Party of Illinois. (2) Nice guys don't cavort with and receive financial aid from two still to this day terrorists. Bill Ayers and his wife, Bernardine Dohrn started the Weatherman Underground in the Sixties. They bombed the Pentagon. Three of their members blew themselves up attempting to carry out more destruction. Ayers and his old bag wife cut a deal with the government to keep them out of jail. To this day Ayers teaches at the University of Chicago spouting his communist beliefs. I should have posed the question to the lady in Boone: "Would you think I was still the champion of all things good and proper if I had these commies on my resume'"?
(3) One of the Obama's dearest friends is Antonin 'Tony' Rezko. He's in jail now for a variety of frauds. At the start of Obama's term a lot of folks thought Rezko would cut a deal with federal prosecutors implicating Obama in his scheme. It didn't happen. Maybe just before Obama leaves office he'll pull a 'Marc Rich' pardon on Big Tony and set him free.
(4) Finally, the Rev. Jeremiah Wright comes into the picture. I wanted to ask this lady, "What if I sat in a church, a Black Liberation church, that promotes revolution and communism." What if I allowed my children to sit in the pews as kiddies and listen to his babble? How is it he sat in those same pews for over twenty years but proclaimedWright had no influence on his thinking".
Of course, the real losers in this situation are the uninformed who think the guy in shades is cool, a real man of the people. In Obama's case he can sing a love song and women swoom having mental visions of a sexual encounter.
Conservatives cannot argue intelligently with Liberals. The standard line when talking with these faux citizens are a presentation of facts. It makes no difference to Libs because they only hear sound bites; e.g. "pay your fair share". They 'feel' without thinking.
I don't want a president who is likeable. I want a president who gets the job done. I'd take Dick Nixon again if I thought he could set a standard of excellence in foreign affairs and get the economy humming again. I know a lot of people who are likeable but I wouldn't let them put air in my car tires.
Trust me when I say, "being cool and likeable is highly overrated",  especially when it comes to owning the most powerful position in the world.