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.
