The other day on C-Span, Robert Novak said that Hillary Clinton is singularly unlikeable. People don’t like her. I’ve seen that with my friends. Yet almost all of them believe she’ll be our next president. Likeability was prized a lot in recent political contests. People said it was a necessary attribute of a pol. Reagan was likeable, Dukakis wasn’t. Clinton likeable, Dole not. I’ve always liked George W. Bush, in spite of everything. He’s likeable. And grossly incompetent. Bush showed us that likeability is not that important. Obama and Edwards are both paying a price for their likeability.
I wonder whether Nixon isn’t Hillary’s role model. Hillary was a young Republican when Nixon came along; she must have been for him at one point. And she studied Nixon closely in order to depose him, back when she was on the Watergate committee. Nixon was singularly unlikeable too, but people trusted him to do the job. He had tons of experience. He’d been in the White House. That matters. Hillary will benefit from the same background. In the end, Nixon’s unlikeability was seen to be untrustworthy. It masked loneliness, paranoia and pettiness. I wonder if we’re not in for the same ride.
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Likeability is extremely overrated in today's society. In fact, the misguided goal of "being liked by others" runs absolutely counter to more noble goals of living, such as being effective and making a difference during the brief time span each of us has here.
Consider any significant historical figure and ask yourself if that person was liked during his or her lifetime. Quite the contrary, most of our heroes were despised by their fellow humans while they lived, and even reviled by others long after they've left our planet. Here's just a few: Martin Luther, his namesake Martin Luther King Jr., Abraham Lincoln, Mahatma Ghandhi, Joan of Arc, Paul the Apostle, and Jesus Christ… the list goes on.
Even Richard Nixon might have been a positive historical figure had he not grown paranoid worrying about his "likeability." Look at the short list of greats above and note that none of these figures were concerned about being liked — they were only concerned about doing what they knew was right.
BTW, I don't like Hillary Clinton either, but if she's effective and doesn't concern herself with thoughts of being liked, she may make a good President…
She is, on some level, an excellent status quo sort of candidate. She's not eccentric (well, barring that stuff in the church in alabama) or unpredictable. It's not what I am personally looking for in a candidate but I agree that she is not well liked but will win.
Check out this article. Steny Hoyer states that we can't leave Iraq b/c Israel may suffer from the consequences of our withdrawal. Does he represent a portion of Maryland or a foreign nation?
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/891358.html
This time it took to comment three to bring in the Jews and Israel on a totally unrelated Phil Weiss post. I'm a little disappointed with you denizens of the Hamas fan club, you guys should really always be number one.
Likability, complicated issue? I never thought about that. Can the outlooks/views/directions of a candidate be really separated from likability? Is the JFK myth only connected with his appearance, his manners?
Hillary seems to be intelligent, which for my part would suffice to like her, I once did, I think she mastered the Clinton-Levinsky (sp?) affair brilliantly.
Neither do I know if I like Obama. Maybe I do, but mainly because he seems to be one of the very, very few that carefully tries to show a way, I would have loved to see during the last election. I seem to turn into a mid-night observer of US elections lately.
Don't worry, I can't vote. But I hope US people will vote in really high numbers on the agendas, and admittedly I wish there was a huge information campaign for all the people with not much time to inform themselves, the ones that are easily caught in the nets of the nice slogans. claims and other tools of my colleagues, the PR professionals. And yes, they would agree, likeability is all.
pealrman- is someone forcing you to post here?
One has to be a complete idiot, my dear Bill Pearlman, not to understand that being dragged into the war in Iraq by rabidly pro-Israel neocons and the Israeli omen corner against American national interests makes the presidential candidates connections and attitudes toward Jewish and Israeli lobbies of quintessential importance interests to the voters.
And knowing who you are, every time you interject, call people names and call post "non-related", everyone knows that the posting was right on the money and the subject is more than related. You are like a piece of litmus paper – if you go "on" – the post deserves to be read. And we would be thankful for that unintended service that you provide if you wouldn't be so deadly, so excruciatingly – boring.
And your cookie-cutter performances are clearly not about anti-Semitism, because the internet is full of truly anti-Semitic sites, where your sleepy, monotone, diluted sarcasm plus/minus pathetic staged rage would not be completely out of place (although a tablespoon of authenticity wouldn't hurt).
But you do not go there, you hang out here and this is because you, obviously, do not give a shit about antisemitism, its just a camouflage. And in your case, its a see-though camouflage. But, Billy, its STUPID to still wear that see-though whorish cammo when everyone already knows who you are and kids are pointing at you and yell: "Look look, see the one that has boobs on his head? Its not a bull, its a bullshit Bill Pearlman!"
… How I really miss someone who would actually bring an intellectually rigorous pro-Israel argument here! Or at least an INTERESTING one!
Alex, You know like every other Russian anti-semite your getting boring. Perhaps its the vodka. Or just the fact that your an asshole.
When someone like YOU calls others "assholes", these people should be proud. Its like being called an "asshole" by Himmler!
But is that all you have to say? How come you are so literate when you dump on other people and suddenly so shy when your own ass being whopped?
Billy, if you really thought I was a Russian anti-Semite, you would already won my $25,000. The whole blog saw you running for cover as soon as I caught you by your filty split tongue and offer you to have my Jewishness decided by a third party! No, you know a Jewish bro when you see one!
You have no decency and no credibility left, Billy, none whatsoever!
So, eat your crow dinner and crawl someplace else, where people do not know you yet.
Not to worry Alex, I'm going to start the ball rolling on that one scumbag. Get your parents ketubah ready
Louty words no action. Who is it? Billy Pearlman, of course. Once again showing what a bullshitter and a coward he is.
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