That mysterious quality some politicians have: Call it teflon.

[cali]

We're about to see if Obama has it in abundance or... not. Some politicians definitely have something in their makeup that enables them to survive attacks. Reagan had it. Bill Clinton had it. Jimmy Carter did not. Neither Bush has it. John Kerry doesn't have it. Obama has it, but we'll see if he has it in sufficient quantity and durability to survive Wright. I suspect he does, but I could certainly be wrong. If he survives it now, I think that's a strong indication that he can survive attacks in the general.

Hillary Clinton does not have it. The absurd contention is that she survived the RW attacks during her husband's presidency and thus must have it. Codswallop. Bill survived it and she survived it because of her husband.

So what is that teflon quality comprised of? I think it's part likability, part strategic parts, and part charisma. There may well be other components.

[blm]

1. Bush2 DID have it - Dan Rather has made it clear the corpmedia NEEDED to bestow it

upon Bush throughout his first term because they expected rulings favorable to them in his next term.

[cali]

3. No he doesn't.

You can't bestow it. And bushco had a unique situation: 9/11 and war, in addition to a compliant media.

[blm]

4. I didn't say he had it naturally - but Corpmedia CAN bestow it on anyone they need to, and

they definitely coated the Bushboy with teflon and it stayed there till a category FIVE hurricane stripped much of it away.

[Arkana]

2. I read something about how the GOP had finally found the next

Reagan--the trouble was, he was on the other side of the political aisle. I think it was Newsweek.

[grantcart]

5. I think Obama's case it shows that he studied Reagan pretty thoroughly

to figure out exactly how he escaped thrashing in the media.


Smart people borrow from the past.

Geniuses steal from the past.

[BklynChick]

6. people smarts, likability, ability to deal w/adversity head on and not look afraid, strength (genuin

[Bread and Circus]

7. Likeability=teflon. And Obama is likeable pure and simple. A stark contrast...

was found on NPR a couple of mornings last week. As noticed by my wife, Clinton's voice was hard to listen to whereas Obama's was pleasant.

This is one of the many factors why Obama is likeable and why he has "teflon".

There's also a "cool" factor. Obama is frankly, "cool". Cool in demeanor, cool in how he handles himself, and just "cool" in the slang sense. He plays basketball, that's cool by today's popular standards.

It's hard for the average guy to disparage Obama too much because there's an inherent sense that if the "cool" guy isn't that much to crow about, then where on the ladder does that put the dweebs? If Obama gets taken down, it makes everyone else look bad.

This is in contrast to your average politician, who's usually got a very low likeability and cool score. So, if they are put down, it then becomes "cool" to put them down.

I think in TV they call it the Q rating. I bet Obama has a very high Q rating.

[question everything]

8. According to Newsweek's Jonathan Alter, who has been drooling over Obama

because, like himself he is a younger baby boomer and Alter has been nursing a grudge against them since childhood, apparently, the older baby boomers, including the Clintons, are Velcro. Everything sticks to them. Alter uses this point, that both Obama and Reagan are/was Teflon, as another point against the older baby boomers.

Yes, Bill Clinton survived the Monica scandal but, as we have seen before men (still the place of power) react to sexual affairs with a wink and a nod unless, of course, the men have been preaching morality, like Gingrich and Livingston, Foley and Vitter and now Eliot Spitzer.

Obama should get one good point from the Jeremiah's thing: At least he is talking, again and again, about his pastor, his church and Jesus, instead of about an imam, a mosque, and Mohamed or, about a rabbi, a synagogue and the prophet Jeremiah...

:shrug: