Retired police captain kills texter in theater during movie trailer

[spin]

180. I never said that Bush the Younger was a good President. ...

Al Gore was too "wooden" to appeal to many voters.

Gore and the Bore Effect

Vice President Gore on the campaign trail. (AP)
By Kevin Merida
Washington Post Staff Writer
Monday, June 7, 1999; Page C01

More than a description, it's a condition, an albatross, an image worth ditching. It speaks to something many people are but nobody wants to be. White paint, brown socks, plain yogurt, Lite beer.

Boring.

To bore is to attack the senses with a fusillade of monotony, to weary the world with blandness. Boring is so boring that Webster's devotes little of its precious space to the adjective: "Dull, tiresome, etc." End of definition.

But let's take it further: Think high school chemistry class and a bouquet of carnations. Dockers slacks, K Street office buildings, the Chevy Lumina. Insurance adjusters and fiscal responsibility. Marshmallows, Martha Stewart and those fishing programs on cable TV.

Which brings us to Al Gore, the highest-ranking boring man in the land. Or so the polls say. He is, these surveys suggest, the vanilla pudding of the species. This doesn't have to be an absolute truth to be a problem. In America, when an impression takes root it multiplies until it becomes commonplace until it becomes parody until it becomes accepted fact. And then it's too late. It has become legend. We don't have to speculate about this phenomenon. We have Al Gore. We have political science:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/politics/campaigns/wh2000/stories/gore060799.htm

Of course the Washington Post is conservative and you will criticize my source. Still this article summed up the much of the weaknesses that cost Al the election.

I personally believe that Gore would have made a far better President than Bush the Younger. Still the fact remains that many people voted for Bush. One of the problems with our current system to elect our representatives and Presidents is that the most likable candidate usually wins and that largely depends on how he comes across on short TV campaign ads. Voters often ignore the policies that the candidates support and instead vote totally based on who they would like to invite to dinner or drink a beer with.

Unfortunately the most charismatic candidate often lacks true leadership skills. I hate to say this but I personally believe Obama has largely failed to exhibit the necessary leadership skills to move our nation forward in the manner I hoped for. Of course the Republicans deserve a lot of credit for the fact that we have not recovered from the Great Recession but still the sign of a great leader is that he is able to overcome opposition. I had great hopes that in the future he might be viewed in the same light that Lincoln or FDR is but it looks like he will be seen as a good but not great President.

I will agree that we appear to have "zero points of convergence on these topics." You suggest that Al Gore was a victim of Big Money but that doesn't explain the fact that Obama has won two Presidential elections.