House of Eratosthenes

As I noted toward the end of last year, before the field really started getting narrowed down, the four most important issues of the election are these:

One, and this still takes the cake over everything: Who is going to kill the most terrorists?

Two: Are the democrats afflicted with short memories or are they full-blown crazy?

Three: Is it even possible that twelve million illegal aliens all coming over here to do one thing? And even if you accept that, how is it that the extremely affluent Americans who are in a position to run for high political office, are in a position to say what that one thing is?

Four: Is it absolutely impossible for public servants to represent constituents who aren’t of the same race, gender, sexual preference and creed? And if it is, how on earth did we get to this point? And how many more gazillions of public service positions should we make in our federal, state, county and municipal governments to accommodate this, so that everybody can get what we all seem to be demanding now — officials that resemble us in every conceivable way?

And the fifth most important issue is inspired by yesterday’s item in James Taranto’s Best of the Web, which concerns a nationwide epidemic of women fainting at Barack Obama’s speeches, presentations and rallies. It is much more common than you might think. That, and the purely right-brain comments resonating throughout this article, one of many that are popping out lately about Obamamania…

“He’s very charismatic. It was a ‘you-had-to-be-there’ kind of experience,” said Lolita Breckenridge, 37, after hearing Democratic White House hopeful Barack Obama address a packed rally at the University of Maryland on Monday.

A dedicated supporter, she brought two of her friends to hear the Illinois senator deliver one of his much-talked-about speeches.

“Not too much of the speech was new to me,” she admitted. “But hearing him live…” she trailed off, shaking her head and grinning.”

When Obama addressed the crowd of 16,000 on the eve of primaries which he is tipped to win in Maryland, Virginia and Washington, DC, he carried himself with his habitual worldly confidence, interspersed talk of foreign policy with recollections of his childhood and even poked political fun at his Republican adversaries.

He did not flinch when women screamed as he was in mid-sentence, and even broke off once to answer a female’s cry of “I love you Obama!” with a reassuring: “I love you back.”

No doubt about it, the man has charisma, and it’s far from a purely-female appeal. People who don’t even agree with his positions on the issues, feel an almost supernatural urge to vote for him…to go wherever he is…to be near him…to be like him. And as for the people who do agree with him on the issues, most of them can’t even qualify it. They just love the feeling they get when he’s speaking.

Hmmm…as Darth Vader said, I sense something…something I’ve not felt since…

It’s that word charisma. People are so eager to admit that they’re influenced by it. Nobody wants to have a discussion about whether that is a good thing or not. Maybe that’s a good debate to have right about now.

People love to show off the new family car when they’ve made a little bit larger-than-normal sacrifice in acquiring it. Trust me on this, I’m in a position to know. But nobody ever, ever, ever says “Oh and that salesman who sold us this car had such charisma. He could’ve gotten us to sign anything!” You wouldn’t say that about the guy who got you to buy a car, because it would make you look like a schmuck.

Why do people say this about the guy who’s about to get their vote, to occupy the most powerful office in the civilized world?

Fifth most important issue: With what kinds of responsibilities should people be entrusted, simply because they’re charismatic? This seems to be one of many questions in life where the heart gives one answer, and the head gives a directly opposite answer. So many among us seem to think charisma is the “skeleton key” that unlocks any doorway imaginable, that there’s no limit to how much authority, power and confidence that can be invested in someone just because they’re sociable, their personality is polished, and they got that gift-o-gab thing going on.

But of course if you were to string the actual words together, “a smooth-talking man is a trustworthy man,” you’d look like a fool. And rightly so.

Which is not to say that everybody who jibber-jabbers so eloquently is automatically a liar. But that isn’t necessarily a trustworthy person, either. And let’s not forget — that isn’t even necessarily a competent person. Perhaps the relationship among all these attributes is purely non-correlative. Or not…? Maybe being a compulsive liar would generate a need to have a slick personality?

It seems that might very well be a good question to ponder right about now. Do we want charismatic people running anything?

Suppose that was a hard-and-fast rule — everyone in power must have oodles and oodles of charisma. How good would we expect things to get, really? How much money would we be willing to bet that life would get wonderful? Or let’s go the other way. Suppose the hard-and-fast rule was charisma automatically disqualified you from having authority over people who didn’t have it. Every single boss has to be like Bueller’s math teacher…or at least…toward that extreme. Let the Guy Smileys take up the positions in the lower trenches while the decisions are made by grown-ups, who aren’t necessarily all that much fun to watch.

Would things really suck that bad? Really? How so? Is anybody with a reputation worth defending, willing to step up and say decisions are made and made well, only when there’s some entertainment value in watching them being made?

In fact, the best way to summarize the fifth most important issue, it seems to me, is this: Is being led by those among us who are the most personally captivating, even a good idea? So many seem to be ready to answer in the affirmative. But if you were to write a thesis explaining this, what could you toss in after the preamble to support it — if anything at all?

In 2008, all this could be way too much work for some of us. Maybe the way we’re doing it, is right after all. Maybe a presidential election shouldn’t be anything more than a marathon rock concert.

H/T to Allah for the movie clip, via Dick Stanley.

A lady called yesterday on the Dennis Miller show with a new theme song for Obama. Kind of appropriate, really.

“Hey-bama, Ho-bama
Bama-bama hey-
Bama hey, bama O-ba-ma”

That about sums it up.

Well it does if you’ve seen Jesus Christ Superstar, anyway. 😉
- philmon | 02/15/2008 @ 13:47

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The Fifth Most Important IssueFriday, February 15th, 2008

The Fifth Most Important Issue
Friday, February 15th, 2008