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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsWe Dems lack powerful, charismatic leadership
Joe Biden is a nice, well-meaning guy. Democratic senate leader, Chuck Schumer, is a nice, well-meaning guy. Nancy Pelosi is a powerhouse ass kicker, but she controls only the House of Representatives.
If we ever needed a Franklin Roosevelt, a John Kennedy, or a Lyndon Johnson, this is the moment. Alas, fate, history, and whatever, don't give a rat's ass what we need or when we need it. Thus, the Party of Evil, (Republicans), and their multimedia propaganda machine, are dictating how the game is played, who wins, and who loses.
Basically, we may be fucked beyond repair. The Republicans have taken us down a rabbit hole that leads to hell, and nobody is throwing us a rope to help us get out.
In the film version of John Steinbeck's novel, "Viva Zapata," there's a line of dialogue that states: "A strong people do not need a strong leader." Think what that says about us.
Lovie777
(11,986 posts)iemanja
(53,001 posts)Is that what you want?
I don't care about so-called charisma. I want someone competent. But then I don't think politics is a form of entertainment.
Chainfire
(17,304 posts)The OP stated an opinion that a lot of us share. We do need a Kennedy or a Roosevelt if we are going to continue moving ahead. Time is running out. Leadership is all about charisma and a big part of it is also entertainment. Bill Clinton understood that and that is why he has remained a Democratic hero...
brooklynite
(93,834 posts)...or is the point to pine for inspiring leadership that someone else needs to provide?
smirkymonkey
(63,221 posts)Obama had it. Clinton had it. JFK had it.
Trump did not have real charisma. Trump had that kind of smarmy, sick ability to appeal to broken, weak people, just like cult leaders do. I don't think you would say any of them have been particularly charismatic to a normal healthy person. In fact, most of them creep us out beyond belief.
It's not about being "Hollywood" or entertaining. It's about having a presence or an aura that makes people gravitate toward you and want to listen to what you have to say. It's about radiating integrity, intelligence and honor so that when you say things people automatically believe you, they don't just dismiss you as another bullshitter. They know you are the real thing and that you something within you that can motivate people to get behind you and do great things in your name because you have inspired them with your courage and vision.
There have been men and women throughout history like this, but they don't come along often. And many of them aren't interested in tolerating the slings and arrows of political life and playing the game does not come naturally to them. It's hard to find someone who has what we need and in the same person, someone who is willing to put themselves out there to sacrifice themselves to a life that may be repugnant to their spirit.
I have seen little sparks in our party here and there - Stacy Abrams, Katie Porter, Jamie Raskin, Pete Buttigieg, Eric Swallwell, Beto O'Rourke, etc. I think we have some talent in the making.
BeckyDem
(8,361 posts)The voter suppression and gerrymandering, they're going at it because they have no policy to run on. They have tax havens to keep the rich happy and a race war that Trump keeps pushing. Those are some of the main obstacles, I think.
Vinca
(50,168 posts)half of the population is a bunch of morons who will vote for "personality" over bona fide leadership. That's why there are more than a few Trump voters who also voted for Obama. That said I'm hard pressed to think of "powerful, charismatic leadership" on the right. It doesn't exist.
Walleye
(30,697 posts)Cyrano
(15,020 posts)This is what they do. This is who they are. It's past time we developed an antidote to their ability to roll out endless hatred and lies.
Walleye
(30,697 posts)Budi
(15,325 posts)And that's the part they never ever spoke of.
Never.
They elevated the white male sexist ego, all propped up & cleaned up, shouting promises of populism, with scant political record to show, on a 12 month, 24/7 loop.
We have paid dearly for that gullibility.
⬇️
brooklynite
(93,834 posts)BILL certainly was.
smirkymonkey
(63,221 posts)Hilary has many admirable qualities and I think she would have made an excellent president. However charisma was one thing she lacked.
Also, very few men admire charismatic women. They feel competitive with them and suspicious of them. Women have a hard time in this game.
brooklynite
(93,834 posts)...and I never felt that she lowered her guard. My wife once had a conversation with Bill (that I witnessed), and it was like he was her closest friend.
Budi
(15,325 posts)Anyone running for office should have to produce more than slick imaged ad campaigns & populist promises, propagandized for impact.
Charismatic Populist messaging, Trump, is a perfect example of that.
Cyrano
(15,020 posts)Social Security, the right to form unions, a 40 hour work week, Medicare, Medicaid, the Voting Rights act, the Civil Rights act weren't empty promises. It was these Democratic presidents who made them reality.
empedocles
(15,751 posts)[Without 2 splinter wings, threatening needed support, when it suits the wingers].
chowder66
(9,010 posts)We are such a tabloid nation.
Budi
(15,325 posts)Tabloid Nation.
Poiuyt
(18,087 posts)either southerners or charismatic outsiders. That seems to be accurate, though Biden's story isn't finished yet.
I think any president nowadays needs to be charismatic.
hedda_foil
(16,368 posts)onecaliberal
(32,471 posts)The stupid fucks in this country are NOT EVER going to vote for a dem.
betsuni
(25,122 posts)FDR, JFK, LBJ had large majorities and a normal opposition party fine with bipartisanship that still had to worry about being voted out of office if they didn't do their job. And in those days everybody saw the same media and learned civics in school. Now many Americans are in their own bubbles, a lot of them don't care. Absolutely nothing like today.
When I think of FDR, JFK, LBJ, first thing I think of is mistresses. But that's neither here nor there.
gratuitous
(82,849 posts)Waitasecond . . .
Trailrider1951
(3,408 posts)We have one who scares the shit out of republicans, and is third in line of succession
And one who also is the object of fear and hatred, second in line of succession
agingdem
(7,754 posts)charisma to pull us out of the "pit of despair"??..I mean it's not like we don't have our guy in the White House and hold the majority in both the House and Senate...oh, wait..we do...I personally like nice guys/gals...I like nice guy Joe Biden, a calm intelligent, compassionate man...I like witty soulful Jamie Rankin, a brilliant constitutional scholar...I like Pramila Jayapal, a civil rights activist and the first Indian-American woman to serve in the House...and I like law professor Katie Porter, standing up to Big Business...as for the rancid GOP and their vile mouthed "powerhouses": loud, stupid shock jocks, spewing their garbage to the most loathsome among us...our well-meaning nice guys (Swawell, Lofgren, Murphy, Lieu, Dean, Neguse, Booker...) are doing just fine...don't count us out...