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comment by OftenBen
OftenBen  ·  3104 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: Obama After Dark: the precious hours alone

Does the quality of 'I'd want to have a beer with that person sometime.' have anything to do with the electability of a president?

If so, does the strength of that effect vary election cycle by election cycle?





user-inactivated  ·  3104 days ago  ·  link  ·  

    Does the quality of 'I'd want to have a beer with that person sometime.' have anything to do with the electability of a president?

It's something I've had been considering for some time. Obama has been a "cool" president, doing thing a cool guy you might know does, like adorably reacting to a child!Spider-Man shooting web during Halloween and appearing on a lot of talk shows doing things you'd mostly expect a film actor do, like "slow-jamming the news" with Jimmy Fallon.

At the same time, I'm not at all aware of his decisions and actions as the President of the US. His "pop-presence" is overwhelming compared to the politically-important information on him. A lot of it has to do with me living in the literal political opposite of the US, no doubt, and politics is a devil's game where everything is criticized by everyone at some point, so little can be said about the good decisions Obama made and good actions he took from my perspective. Perhaps it's me being biased, however. Feel free to refute such my claim.

I have nothing against the President being cool. Putin tries to do the same but fails miserably; much like an adult trying to be as "hip" as their youngster child to "fit in": doesn't fucking work. It must not, however, be the base or even a factor in electing someone. Justin Trudeau is pretty cool, and while he hasn't had a lot of time in the seat of Canada's Prime Minister, he's already done some socially important things, like partaking in a gay pride parade (thus showing his support to the cause, which I find amazing), as well as shown superfluous grasp on the principle of quanum computing and the difference between it and the conventional, binary computing. Time will tell, but if his policies are up for the par he himself has set with the election vows, he's going to be a great PM.

johnnyFive  ·  3104 days ago  ·  link  ·  

Even in this country it can be hard to separate the pop presence from the actual decisions. It seems like every news outlet has an agenda, and so consciously or unconsciously divides things in specific ways or prioritizes some news over others.

He's done things I like and things I don't, which is about all one can say about any leader.

user-inactivated  ·  3104 days ago  ·  link  ·  

    He's done things I like and things I don't, which is about all one can say about any leader.

I dare you: Putin.

johnnyFive  ·  3104 days ago  ·  link  ·  

Uh...I thought the shirtless pictures with dead animals were kind of funny?

user-inactivated  ·  3104 days ago  ·  link  ·  

I'll give you half a point for trying.

Now that I think of it, even Adolf Hitler had a better chance in that game: at least he encouraged physical education in young people.