I see that the term "likable" is being used again

[question everything]

Years ago, an acquaintance, a savvy politician, told me that we like our president to be personable. This was in the 90s and Bill Clinton, of course, was Mister Personable. And, of course, I remember the sour dour expression on Dole. And Buchanan, and how Steve Forbes did OK with his goofy smile.

Certainly Obama was. But, objected my spouse, Trump is not personable. OK, I agreed. I would use the term visceral. I think that JFK and Reagan and Clinton and Obama and even Bush Jr. and Trump interacted with the voters on a visceral level. Remember when many who objected to Junior said they would not vote for him but would not mind a beer with him?

Now, I tend to look at the world in a logical manner which makes my spouse to often chide me that the world is not logical. But I have despaired that Stevenson, Dukakis, Gore, Kerry and yes, Hillary tried to reason with the voters. They interacted on a cerebral level to explain their policies. On these pages I have often said that candidates have to interact with voters at a sixth grade level.

But it is really not the vocabulary. It is the visceral vs. cerebral interaction that I don't think anyone can develop or pinpoint.

I support Klobuchar and I resign to the fact that she will not be the nominee. Because she is logical, she is not trying to offer anything to appeal (I will not use the term "pander&quot to the voters like free tuition and free health care etc. She is interacting on a cerebral level.

I think that Beto interacted with voters on a visceral level... until he over did it with his dental and barber appointments and jumping on countertops.

I think that it was on Donny Deutch's program yesterday, that some of the guests said that voters want to fall in love with their candidate and mention Mayor Peter.

I think that Sanders interact with his supporters on a visceral level. And perhaps Biden.

Another comment on that program was that usually, people who ran once for the president cannot win if they run a second time. Did not mention names but we were thinking of Stevenson and Hillary and... Biden? I don't know. Republicans have been notorious in promoting the next in line: Dole, McCain, Romney.

Oh, one last thing, as many here know I supported Hillary in both 2008 and 2016. Yes, she appealed to me on a cerebral level..

Yes, I know, Hillary won and the Russian took advantage of the gullibility of the voters. But the fact remains that Trump won the primaries even though each and every Republican was so certain that no, he was not going to win. I predicted it in the fall of 2015 not knowing why, though..

OK, shoot (from your keyboard, that is)

[Demit]

1. Nixon ran a second time and won. He wan't exactly Mr Personable, either.

The truism I always remember, that describes presidential elections is: Democrats fall in love, Republicans fall in line.

[question everything]

4. True. But he supposdely ended the war in Vietnam and opened the door to China

and McGovern, really, was the darling of the left and it showed. And I do hope that this lesson will be remembered now.

Interesting phrase. I suppose Republicans, who could not decide whom they loathed more: Cruz or Trump, did fall in line.

[JI7]

8. we lost the war . he lied about having a plan to end it sooner

[Demit]

11. I'm referring to Nixon beating Humphrey in 1968 as the second time.

After he had lost to JFK in 1960.

[question everything]

20. This was a sad preface to 2016. Many Democrats stayed home in 1968 and in 2016.

[Honeycombe8]

14. Nixon ran against Humphrey. Almost any Republican would have won that one.

Nixon won handily against Humphrey, and that was with George Wallace taking several states from him.

Nixon wasn't likable to us, but he did smile a lot and laugh at jokes. So he wasn't like wallpaper. And remember, we're talking about Republicans. Not exactly known for their keen sense of humor.

[JI7]

16. there was also the southern strategy thing and backlash over the liberal movements

[JI7]

2. Trump won becsuse they enjoy his Bigotry. they agree with it

they could have voted for any one of the other assholes running.

the tea party and attacks on Obama Showed that Trump could appeal to the bigoted Republican party.

also look at vote they got rid of people like Eric canter and lugar.

do their embracing trump wasn't that much of a surprise.

[JI7]

3. i hated Bush and did not want to have a beer or anything else with him

i could not stand looking at his face or listening to his voice.

[question everything]

5. That, too. But too many did. And said so

[JI7]

7. more like the media told them after they attacked gore for wearing earth tones

while propping up Bush with the phony clearing brush at the ranch he sold after leaving office.

And Gore still got more votes.

[Mr.Bill]

6. I'll take ranking candidates on likeability anyday

rather than ranking them on how much money they have raised.

[RedParrot]

9. Nice post

I will add that the reason Trump won the nomination was because none of his other 14 opponents refused to dropout until it was too late. A majority of GOP primary voters supported someone other than Trump. Had they coalesced around a never Trump candidate, the Trump cult would have never infected the GOP.

[question everything]

17. Thank you RedParrot and welcome to DU

You certainly have your own original ideas with no need to "parrot" anyone else.

[TryLogic]

22. Good point

[Kurt V.]

10. Humans are a raging ball of animal behavior covered in a veneer of reason.

the thickness of the veneer is what forms our decisions. imo.

[pnwmom]

12. And yet Hillary, supposedly not likable enough, won 2.9 million votes more than DT.

The problem isn't Hillary. The problem is that votes in red states count more than in blue states.

Someone did a math calculation and discovered that it is theoretically possible for a candidate to win the EC with only 23% of the popular vote.

At what point do we stop blaming our candidate for not being likable enough, and start blaming the system? Does she or he have to lose the EC despite an advantage of 5 million votes? It could happen. 10 million votes? When will we stop blaming our candidate for being defective in some way.

[TryLogic]

23. Good point

[mtnsnake]

13. I think your post is likable!

I think the likeability factor is well worth discussing for all the reasons inspired by your post and then some. Plus it's fun.

It's funny how some candidates benefit greatly from being so likeable such as Barack Obama. His smile made you instantly like him, but his seriousness also made you like him because he was so intelligent.

I think Biden's likeability is partly due to him being such a cool guy, out there sporting his shades, sleeves rolled part way up, tan that looks like it didn't come out of a jar. Good guy.

I think Bernie's likeability is partly due to him being so grumpy. I don't know why, but I think one of the reasons I've always liked Bernie besides for what he has to say is because he's so goddamn unlikable, LOL.

Then there's Pete Buttigieg. He isn't overly charismatic such as someone like Joe Biden or Michael Bennet, but Mayor Pete in his own serious way is one of the most likable candidates to ever come along, IMO. I don't know if it's his sincerity or his intelligence or his overall delivery, but he's simply likable.

BTW, I think the candidate you're favoring, Amy Klobuchar, is very likable and very qualified and might surprise everyone in the polls once the debates begin. The thing I like the most about her is how she doesn't dodge questions. She's straightforward and honest with her answers, and she doesn't suck up to anyone just to win their vote.

[question everything]

19. Thank you. I, too, hope that Klobuchar will gain more after the debates

at least the upcoming one.

I am afraid that she will not make it to the September one, with the higher threshold.

[Honeycombe8]

15. I like Klobuchar, too.

She's one of the top ones, IMO. But she doesn't have that spark that drives her to the top of the ticket, I guess. Or maybe it's the fact that she's pretty much an unknown, even now. But she's a natural leader, smart, speaks intelligently about the issues, etc.

[oldsoftie]

18. Likable has always been a thing. Just like 'attractive". Shouldnt matter, but does

[JudyM]

21. My SIL, an otherwise highly intelligent woman, opted for Shrub because he "looks more presidential"

than Kerry. If I could’ve puked at will, I’d have done it at her feet right then.

[DemocracyMouse]

24. On the likable scale, I'd put Warren up there with FDR

I LIKE my future president to tell it like it is. And she has this cute way of adding a kind of working class spice: half humor, half exasperation.

She also explains wonky stuff better than even Bernie.