Word: charisma
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Years ago, German sociologist Max Weber wrote that America's expectations of a successful young academic were such that he could "draw large crowds of students" to his lectures. His charisma, his style and his temperament were more significant motivations for a student to enroll in a lecture class than the material itself...
...certain lack of zeal for supercentrist candidates Gore and Bradley (once considered the toasts of Beverly Hills, but if Beatty should run, perhaps just toast), the leading man whose most recent movie role was that of a Mad Hatter Senator, Jay Bulworth, threatened to inject color and charisma, and a dose of classic leftism, into a thus far pale political season. "The political system is so corrupted, we don't really need a third party. We need a second one," Beatty said, affirming his faith in Jack-and-Bobby liberalism and voicing a fear that America was becoming...
...dreamy or daft enough to think of ourselves as superheroes in the comic book of our lives? Are we not tickled to think that the world is somehow dependent on our skills and charisma? And do we not come to understand, in the bleak clarity of reality, that some heroes--especially the one staring at us in the bathroom mirror--will never be truly super...
...people feel good about him without ever really being able to articulate why (although unlike today?s wussy centrists, of course, Reagan actually took firm and controversial policy stands). Of course, media plays a critical role in generating those feelings. But it wouldn?t be possible without some basic charisma. They?re not sure why they do, but voters instinctively trust a Crowd-Pleaser. More important, in the absence of clear political positions, they fantasize that the Crowd-Pleaser is the personification of all their political desires. As in the old Bob Dylan movie character, Alias Anything You Like...
...Bill Clinton may be the exception that proves the rule that a Thinker can?t be a Crowd-Pleaser. Policy wonks generally don?t set pulses racing, and tend to diagnose, rather than feel, your pain. But those not blessed with the charisma of the Crowd-Pleaser or the Healer can work a different seam of political frustration ?- the perceived need for new thinking to break traditional ideological molds. Voters know the old models aren?t working, so a candidate such as Bill Bradley who can appear to be a deep thinker unburdened by partisan baggage has a kind...