re: #146 freetoken

FWIW, I never “liked” Obama either, but my respect for him grew greatly over the years.

All the years I’ve voted for Presidents, I can’t think of one of whom I can say I really liked, speaking of personality/style.

Think that’s part of the problem in recent decades. Once upon a time, we voted for a president not based upon whether or not he was a likable guy, but whether he was an effective one. That culminated in Nixon, whom much of the nation voted for not because he was a likable guy (he sure as fuck was not), but because he gave the impression of being better suited for the job than his challengers. Then we found out he was a crooked fuck and that resulted in this massive backlash against the idea of the “Washington insider” and the “professional politician.” Combine that with the rise of Reagan, a B-list celebrity turned politician, and suddenly the idea that we needed somebody who made us “feel good” became the driving philosophy.