Palin: To know her is to not like her so much

[guido911]

quote:Originally posted by iplaw

The question on Palin's experience has been answered umpteen times.  You just don't like the answer.  At least be honest about it.

She's as qualified to be president as Barack Obama.  They have had roughly the same amount of time served in public office.  Different offices, but public service nonetheless.

IP, we will never get an answer about Obama's qualifications. We have gotten, though, a fairly interesting look into the heart of democrat misogyny. Cpme on, "I just don't like women like her". What kind of a woman is that. One who dares to take a stand on abortion in contrast to NARAL? Or, a wman who knows her place and falls in line with the NOW feminist movement. Or, a woman who knows her place is in the home, barefoot and pregnant.

[PonderInc]

Palin is being used.  Her foreign policy knowledge, or lack thereof, is irrelevant, b/c she's just a tool to get the old white guy in office.  Nobody's going to listen to her, post election.  They'll bring her out and wave her like a flag at the adoring crowds...while policy is made behind closed doors without her input.  She's not going to be Dick Cheney running the government. (Now, if McCain croaks...we've got a problem.)

Here's a fun conspiracy theory: What if Palin knows she's just there to get McCain elected.  After the election, she'll determine--after a decent amount of time, but before McCain croaks--that "she needs to spend more time with her family--raising her special needs child and grandchild at home in Alaska."  Then McCain can appoint whomever he wants to be VP.  Another white guy, presumably, to be the heir apparent to the republican White House dynasty.  Palin will look like another flakey chick...setting women's rights back another 20 years...but a nice political appointment of some kind, and a hefty payoff will make it all worthwhile. I bet Hollywood's already working on the movie:  "Wag the Doll."

(Oooh...this conspiracy stuff is fun.  No wonder all those nutcases are always posting them on this forum!)

[guido911]

quote:Originally posted by PonderInc

Palin is being used.  Her foreign policy knowledge, or lack thereof, is irrelevant, b/c she's just a tool to get the old white guy in office.  Nobody's going to listen to her, post election.  They'll bring her out and wave her like a flag at the adoring crowds...while policy is made behind closed doors without her input.  She's not going to be Dick Cheney running the government. (Now, if McCain croaks...we've got a problem.)

Here's a fun conspiracy theory: What if Palin knows she's just there to get McCain elected.  After the election, she'll determine--after a decent amount of time, but before McCain croaks--that "she needs to spend more time with her family--raising her special needs child and grandchild at home in Alaska."  Then McCain can appoint whomever he wants to be VP.  Another white guy, presumably, to be the heir apparent to the republican White House dynasty.  Palin will look like another flakey chick...setting women's rights back another 20 years...but a nice political appointment of some kind, and a hefty payoff will make it all worthwhile. I bet Hollywood's already working on the movie:  "Wag the Doll."

(Oooh...this conspiracy stuff is fun.  No wonder all those nutcases are always posting them on this forum!)

Here ya go. this might help.
http://zapatopi.net/afdb/

[waterboy]

Well, thanks, now I know who you two are and its very disheartening frankly. I guess we'll have to wait for the tell all books that will come out after the election.

edit: I screwed up the edit on my post above. The one starting, "Thanks, Anyway..." If anyone still has it would they post so I can see it and re post it?

[iplaw]

What's the problem?  Was my side-by-side comparison too hard to follow?  I tried to provide a baseline for our discussion by outlining their respective experience.  I get the feeling that you're really not interested in a discussion about her or Obama at all.

[Hometown]

Waterboy is this what you are looking for?

"More of the same. Thanks anyway.

Freak. I don't like her personality? There, all better now?"

[USRufnex]

quote:Originally posted by iplaw

Just for giggles, why don't we do a side by side of the two candidates and their time in public service.  Mind you, one of them is running for president, the other vice president:

Palin: 1992-1996 City Council Member
Obama: 1985-1988 Worked as a Community Oragnizer

Palin: 1996-2002 Mayor of Wasilla
Obama: 1997-2004 Illinois Senator

Palin: 2006-Present Governor of Alaska
Obama: 2004-Present US Senator (1/2 of this time has been consumed with running for POTUS)

Both had intervening times of school, work and family between their respective positions.

What I'm trying to figure out are the monumental differences that make Obama any more qualified than Palin?

Obama knows the consitution... Palin knows how to speak in tongues...

Obama is eminently more qualified for POTUS than Palin... of course this is simply a politically savvy move by the McCain campaign to play the political game of.... drumroll please...

equivocation
    n 1: a statement that is not literally false but that cleverly avoids an unpleasant truth [syn: evasion]
    2: intentionally vague or ambiguous [syn: prevarication, evasiveness]
    3: deliberate vagueness or ambiguity [syn: evasiveness]
    4: falsification by means of vague or ambiguous language [syn:  tergiversation]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barack_Obama

Obama moved to Chicago to work as a community organizer for three years from June 1985 to May 1988 as director of the Developing Communities Project (DCP), a church-based community organization originally comprising eight Catholic parishes in Greater Roseland (Roseland, West Pullman, and Riverdale) on Chicago's far South Side.[13][15] During his three years as the DCP's director, its staff grew from 1 to 13 and its annual budget grew from $70,000 to $400,000, with accomplishments including helping set up a job training program, a college preparatory tutoring program, and a tenants' rights organization in Altgeld Gardens.[16] Obama also worked as a consultant and instructor for the Gamaliel Foundation, a community organizing institute.[17] In mid-1988, he traveled for the first time to Europe for three weeks and then for five weeks in Kenya, where he met many of his Kenyan relatives for the first time.[18]

Obama entered Harvard Law School in late 1988. At the end of his first year, he was selected, based on his grades and a writing competition, as an editor of the Harvard Law Review.[19] In February 1990, in his second year, he was elected president of the Law Review, a full-time volunteer position functioning as editor-in-chief and supervising the Law Review's staff of 80 editors.[20] Obama's election as the first black president of the Law Review was widely reported and followed by several long, detailed profiles.[20] During his summers, he returned to Chicago where he worked as a summer associate at the law firms of Sidley & Austin in 1989 and Hopkins & Sutter in 1990.[21] He graduated with a Juris Doctor (J.D.) magna cum laude from Harvard in 1991 followed by his returning to Chicago.

The publicity from his election as the first black president of the Harvard Law Review led to a publishing contract and advance for a book about race relations.[22] In an effort to recruit him to their faculty, the University of Chicago Law School provided Obama with a fellowship and an office to work on his book.[22] He originally planned to finish the book in one year, but it took much longer as the book evolved into a personal memoir. In order to work without interruptions, Obama and his wife, Michelle, traveled to Bali where he wrote for several months. The manuscript was finally published in mid-1995 as Dreams from My Father.[22]

Obama directed Illinois's Project Vote from April to October 1992, a voter registration drive with a staff of 10 and 700 volunteers and which achieved its goal of registering 150,000 of 400,000 unregistered African-Americans in the state, and led to Crain's Chicago Business naming Obama to its 1993 list of "40 under Forty" powers to be.[23][24]

Beginning in 1992, Obama taught constitutional law at the University of Chicago Law School for twelve years, being first classified as a Lecturer from 1992 to 1996, and then as a Senior Lecturer from 1996 to 2004.[25]

He also, in 1993, joined Davis, Miner, Barnhill & Galland, a 12-attorney law firm specializing in civil rights litigation and neighborhood economic development, where he was an associate for three years from 1993 to 1996, then of counsel from 1996 to 2004, with his law license becoming inactive in 2002.[13][26]

Obama was a founding member of the board of directors of Public Allies in 1992, resigning before his wife, Michelle, became the founding executive director of Public Allies Chicago in early 1993.[13][27] He served from 1993 to 2002 on the board of directors of the Woods Fund of Chicago, which in 1985 had been the first foundation to fund Obama's DCP, and served from 1994 to 2002 on the board of directors of The Joyce Foundation.[13] Obama served on the board of directors of the Chicago Annenberg Challenge from 1995–2002, as founding president and chairman of the board of directors from 1995–1999.[13] He also served on the board of directors of the Chicago Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, the Center for Neighborhood Technology, and the Lugenia Burns Hope Center.[13]

------------------------------------------------

http://firstread.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2008/09/18/1415527.aspx

"'She doesn't have any foreign policy credentials,' Hagel said in an interview. 'You get a passport for the first time in your life last year? I mean, I don't know what you can say. You can't say anything.'"

Check out this other Hagel line: "'I think they ought to be just honest about it and stop the nonsense about, "I look out my window and I see Russia and so therefore I know something about Russia,"' he said. 'That kind of thing is insulting to the American people.'"

And this one: "'I think it's a stretch to, in any way, to say that she's got the experience to be president of the United States,' Hagel said."

---- Obama has been mentored in the foreign relations committee by none other than Richard Lugar, a Republican senator from Indiana... Obama has had a passport for decades, Palen just got her passport after becoming governor less than 2 years ago... oh, but she can see Russia from Alaska... yeah, right.

If anybody wants to compare Palin's experience to that of a certain Bill Clinton.... well, the only true equavalent for that argument would be if Jimmy Carter had picked Bill Clinton to be his running mate in 1980... he didn't.

and these days, McCain doesn't know if he wants to be "Barry Goldwater or Dennis Kucinich"...

[Hoss]

quote:Originally posted by USRufnex

quote:Originally posted by iplaw

Just for giggles, why don't we do a side by side of the two candidates and their time in public service.  Mind you, one of them is running for president, the other vice president:

Palin: 1992-1996 City Council Member
Obama: 1985-1988 Worked as a Community Oragnizer

Palin: 1996-2002 Mayor of Wasilla
Obama: 1997-2004 Illinois Senator

Palin: 2006-Present Governor of Alaska
Obama: 2004-Present US Senator (1/2 of this time has been consumed with running for POTUS)

Both had intervening times of school, work and family between their respective positions.

What I'm trying to figure out are the monumental differences that make Obama any more qualified than Palin?

Obama knows the consitution... Palin knows how to speak in tongues...

Obama is eminently more qualified for POTUS than Palin... of course this is simply a politically savvy move by the McCain campaign to play the political game of.... drumroll please...

equivocation
    n 1: a statement that is not literally false but that cleverly avoids an unpleasant truth [syn: evasion]
    2: intentionally vague or ambiguous [syn: prevarication, evasiveness]
    3: deliberate vagueness or ambiguity [syn: evasiveness]
    4: falsification by means of vague or ambiguous language [syn:  tergiversation]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barack_Obama

Obama moved to Chicago to work as a community organizer for three years from June 1985 to May 1988 as director of the Developing Communities Project (DCP), a church-based community organization originally comprising eight Catholic parishes in Greater Roseland (Roseland, West Pullman, and Riverdale) on Chicago's far South Side.[13][15] During his three years as the DCP's director, its staff grew from 1 to 13 and its annual budget grew from $70,000 to $400,000, with accomplishments including helping set up a job training program, a college preparatory tutoring program, and a tenants' rights organization in Altgeld Gardens.[16] Obama also worked as a consultant and instructor for the Gamaliel Foundation, a community organizing institute.[17] In mid-1988, he traveled for the first time to Europe for three weeks and then for five weeks in Kenya, where he met many of his Kenyan relatives for the first time.[18]

Obama entered Harvard Law School in late 1988. At the end of his first year, he was selected, based on his grades and a writing competition, as an editor of the Harvard Law Review.[19] In February 1990, in his second year, he was elected president of the Law Review, a full-time volunteer position functioning as editor-in-chief and supervising the Law Review's staff of 80 editors.[20] Obama's election as the first black president of the Law Review was widely reported and followed by several long, detailed profiles.[20] During his summers, he returned to Chicago where he worked as a summer associate at the law firms of Sidley & Austin in 1989 and Hopkins & Sutter in 1990.[21] He graduated with a Juris Doctor (J.D.) magna cum laude from Harvard in 1991 followed by his returning to Chicago.

The publicity from his election as the first black president of the Harvard Law Review led to a publishing contract and advance for a book about race relations.[22] In an effort to recruit him to their faculty, the University of Chicago Law School provided Obama with a fellowship and an office to work on his book.[22] He originally planned to finish the book in one year, but it took much longer as the book evolved into a personal memoir. In order to work without interruptions, Obama and his wife, Michelle, traveled to Bali where he wrote for several months. The manuscript was finally published in mid-1995 as Dreams from My Father.[22]

Obama directed Illinois's Project Vote from April to October 1992, a voter registration drive with a staff of 10 and 700 volunteers and which achieved its goal of registering 150,000 of 400,000 unregistered African-Americans in the state, and led to Crain's Chicago Business naming Obama to its 1993 list of "40 under Forty" powers to be.[23][24]

Beginning in 1992, Obama taught constitutional law at the University of Chicago Law School for twelve years, being first classified as a Lecturer from 1992 to 1996, and then as a Senior Lecturer from 1996 to 2004.[25]

He also, in 1993, joined Davis, Miner, Barnhill & Galland, a 12-attorney law firm specializing in civil rights litigation and neighborhood economic development, where he was an associate for three years from 1993 to 1996, then of counsel from 1996 to 2004, with his law license becoming inactive in 2002.[13][26]

Obama was a founding member of the board of directors of Public Allies in 1992, resigning before his wife, Michelle, became the founding executive director of Public Allies Chicago in early 1993.[13][27] He served from 1993 to 2002 on the board of directors of the Woods Fund of Chicago, which in 1985 had been the first foundation to fund Obama's DCP, and served from 1994 to 2002 on the board of directors of The Joyce Foundation.[13] Obama served on the board of directors of the Chicago Annenberg Challenge from 1995–2002, as founding president and chairman of the board of directors from 1995–1999.[13] He also served on the board of directors of the Chicago Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, the Center for Neighborhood Technology, and the Lugenia Burns Hope Center.[13]

------------------------------------------------

http://firstread.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2008/09/18/1415527.aspx

"'She doesn't have any foreign policy credentials,' Hagel said in an interview. 'You get a passport for the first time in your life last year? I mean, I don't know what you can say. You can't say anything.'"

Check out this other Hagel line: "'I think they ought to be just honest about it and stop the nonsense about, "I look out my window and I see Russia and so therefore I know something about Russia,"' he said. 'That kind of thing is insulting to the American people.'"

And this one: "'I think it's a stretch to, in any way, to say that she's got the experience to be president of the United States,' Hagel said."

---- Obama has been mentored in the foreign relations committee by none other than Richard Lugar, a Republican senator from Indiana... Obama has had a passport for decades, Palen just got her passport after becoming governor less than 2 years ago... oh, but she can see Russia from Alaska... yeah, right.

If anybody wants to compare Palin's experience to that of a certain Bill Clinton.... well, the only true equavalent for that argument would be if Jimmy Carter had picked Bill Clinton to be his running mate in 1980... he didn't.

and these days, McCain doesn't know if he wants to be "Barry Goldwater or Dennis Kucinich"...

Don't be hatin' on their gurll....or they'll gitcha!!

[FOTD]

I found it on a blog:

Paleontology:  The study of ancient life forms, particularly as they are seen in fossils.

Palin-tology:  Oblivious to current life forms while being seen with a fossil.


This was probably already posted somewhere in all this MILF debris....

"Every normal man must be tempted at times to spit upon his hands, hoist the black flag, and begin slitting throats."
-- Henry Louis Mencken

[Conan71]

quote:Originally posted by PonderInc

Palin is being used.  Her foreign policy knowledge, or lack thereof, is irrelevant, b/c she's just a tool to get the old white guy in office.  Nobody's going to listen to her, post election.  They'll bring her out and wave her like a flag at the adoring crowds...while policy is made behind closed doors without her input.  She's not going to be Dick Cheney running the government. (Now, if McCain croaks...we've got a problem.)

Here's a fun conspiracy theory: What if Palin knows she's just there to get McCain elected.  After the election, she'll determine--after a decent amount of time, but before McCain croaks--that "she needs to spend more time with her family--raising her special needs child and grandchild at home in Alaska."  Then McCain can appoint whomever he wants to be VP.  Another white guy, presumably, to be the heir apparent to the republican White House dynasty.  Palin will look like another flakey chick...setting women's rights back another 20 years...but a nice political appointment of some kind, and a hefty payoff will make it all worthwhile. I bet Hollywood's already working on the movie:  "Wag the Doll."

(Oooh...this conspiracy stuff is fun.  No wonder all those nutcases are always posting them on this forum!)

Careful Ponder, you are starting to sound like the other postee on here who has a problem with geriatrics, cripples, white men, protestants, and wemmen.

[PonderInc]

Oooh...which one?  (Don't we have several of those?)  I can't keep them all straight b/c I usually just skim the doofus content...

[Rico]

quote:Originally posted by guido911

quote:Originally posted by waterboy

HT, its becoming clear that Tulsa has a lot of those sign pullers, bumper sticker peelers and unrestrained conversation bullies.

The one question remains in my mind. Politics aside...Why Her? You had capable people, other women, other men who were better qualified. Why?

Those who would delude themselves into thinking this particular woman is capable should sign up for the service now and await her direction.  It is inevitable. Even if he makes it through one term, the presidency is a life sucking job. The pressure is constant, the controversy unrelenting. Eventually she'll be leading us.

Why her?  How about, why Obama? What the hell has he done that is presidential? What leadership qualities does he have that would place him above her? None.

Guido you are more qualified than what we have now.........
Seriously..... the pendulum has swung so far to the right that the George Wallace and "Bull" Conner's of the 60's would be smiling.......

And I am not talking about anti-war rhetoric... This administration can't even fight a war right.....

The casualties we have racked up during Iraq are a stain on this Nation.

Now we have to go back to Afghanistan and try and get it right...Bull****...thats what this administration is about Bull****.

You would feel comfortable with Sarah at the table......?

Please... You and IP take the jobs... I would sleep a lot better..

[waterboy]

quote:Originally posted by Hometown

Waterboy is this what you are looking for?

"More of the same. Thanks anyway.

Freak. I don't like her personality? There, all better now?"

No. But thanks anyway. I just editted and the whole thing disappeared.

All I was asking was a simple question...Why Her?

All I got was questioning of Obama and Biden. Forget her politics, I'll admit to not liking her personality, or in general not liking women of that personality. In contrast to most, I don't think she's all that pretty, just young and outgoing. There were some really good candidates in the party who were actually mavericks in their own right. They wouldn't have created such a contrast to his white old guy look. Just thought there must be something in his decision process that we could learn about him.

Simple questions are the hardest. They're both lawyers and are apparently trained to not answer simple questions with simple direct answers.

[pmcalk]

quote:Originally posted by Conan71

You successfully tapped into the root of my distaste for Biden, not being able to shoot a moose. []

Comparing Palin to Falwell is a huge stretch, not even close.  Calling her ascension to VP candidate "Affirmative Action" is demeaning to all women.  So, she doesn't share your view on uterus vacuuming (10 out of 10 fetuses surveyed said they were against abortion).  There are far more women's issues out there- breast cancer, domestic violence, equal pay.  I'd be willing to bet there are less than 20 to 30% of all women who hold a very strong view, one way or the other, on abortion.  At least those who would consider themselves single-issue voters.

I disagree about Palin being a "huge stretch" from Falwell.  There is a reason that the religious right rejoiced at McCain's choice. I am not a single-issue voter by any stretch.  But for me, the issue of the right to control one's body is indicative of a much broader issue, namely that there are simply areas where the government has no business intruding.  When someone says they won't appoint "activist" judges, what they really mean is they are going to appoint a certain type of "activist" judge—one that subscribes to their religious and moral philosophy.  It means they will appoint judges that ignore the 9th Amendment, and the right to privacy.  I want a government that stays away from my body and out of my bedroom.  So if you define the protection of our liberties as a single issue, then perhaps I lean toward that one issue.  

What would you know about being demeaning to "all women"?  What is really demeaning to women is choosing a woman who is not qualified, and to overlook all the woman who worked hard at their job, and who insist on being taken seriously—people like Kay Bailey Hutchinson and Hillary Clinton.  Woman who battled real sexism, only to have a young inexperienced ex-beauty queen be put in the second highest position—and have her cry sexism whenever serious questions are asked.

As for the other women's issues, that is the other reason I support Obama & Biden—they have an excellent record on women's issues. Palin charged women to get evidence in rape cases and she fired her Public Safety Commissioner for trying to secure federal money to help prosecute sexual assault cases (at least in her latest version).  I don't know much about her—not for lack of trying—but because she simply has done so little, and refuses to talk to reporters.

quote:
So being a governor of one of the less populated states doesn't equate to proper Presidential experience, eh?.

Democrats took a bet on a 46 year-old governor from a state amongst the worst in education and poverty in 1992.  Bill Clinton had a track record as a political chameleon, had his own troopergate (having troopers arrange his sexual liasiaons vs. trying to have a psychotic trooper fired who used a stun gun on a 10 year old child), known connections to the drug trade in Arkansas ("The Mena Connection"), a brother convicted of cocaine charges (this is important because Dims want to hold Palin accountable for members of her family), questionable real estate deals which saw close associates do prison time.

What foreign policy experience did Clinton bring to the White House?  Attending college at Oxford doesn't count.  He was Governor of a land-locked state.

What experience did Clinton have with oil and energy?  

What experience did he have with the banking and finance industry?

Turns out, history will be kind to Clinton's Presidency.  He brought no particular skill set with him to Washington other than a gift for the art of politics.  He was a politician's politician, a true charmer.  He was a consensus-builder, he surrounded himself with reasonably-good advisors (as does every President).  Clinton had been governor to a poor, land-locked state, prior to that he was an attorney general.

I fail to see where Sarah Palin brings anything less to the table than one of our most effective Presidents ever.  She is a likeable person (at least to those who don't have abortion hang-ups or just plain blind lib hang-ups), appears effective at getting initiatives through, and she takes command.

The false outrage in Palin/McCain camp is ridiculous.  No democrat that I have heard has tried to somehow hold Palin responsible for her teenage daughter's pregnancy.  Of course there has been scrutiny over her position on abstinence education, just as there was additional scrutiny over Clinton's position on drug control.  That is legitimate.

You really want to equate Clinton to Palin? There are two things that I look to in a candidate—are they smart and do they have experience? Unlike Republicans, who for some reason seem to disdain anyone who is smart, I want a president who is brilliant.  I want someone smarter than me—Republicans want someone they can drink a beer with.  I drink a lot of beer.  But I wouldn't make a good president.

Clinton was both smart and experienced; Palin has no experience, and as far as I can tell isn't smart.  Before you get up in arms, I am not saying that she is stupid, but I see nothing to validate that she has extraordinary intelligence.  Clinton went to Georgetown on scholarship and received a Bachelor of Science in Foreign Service, graduating Phi Beta Kappa.  Palin went to 5 different schools over 6 years and got a degree in communications.  Clinton became a Rhodes Scholar and studied at Oxford.  Palin was a sportscaster.  Clinton went to Yale law school; Palin joined the PTA.   Clinton had 12 years of state level political experience, including chairmanship of the National Governors association.  Palin has less than two years experience at a state level position, plus some experience at a very, very, very small town.

Whether she is likeable or not is irrelevant.

[Conan71]

I appreciate you explaining more about your views.  Palin = Falwell is hyperbole, but believe it if you like.  You take liberal license with many of your assumptions about Palin, but you do have a political pre-disposition to assume the worst of a GOP candidate.

Taking a long look at KBH, a woman you seem to admire, the only difference I see between her and Palin is that KBH says the gov't has no business in the abortion issue.  

I agree with KBH on that point.  I'm not a "legislated morality" person either.  I do find it interesting though that most liberal pro-choice activists don't want the government saying what someone can and cannot do with their body, yet Universal Health Care is one of the larger liberal causes.  Do you not think that the government will dictate what you can and cannot do to your body when they assume responsibility for health care?  They will.

I suspect you would have taken exception in some way to her as a pick for McCain since you are an Obama supporter.  You do, of course, remember that KBH had limited experience in her state as treasurer (about two years) prior to going on to DC and was indicted by a grand jury for supposed misconduct in using state property and ordering records destroyed?  The case was tossed due to admissibility issues.  Of course this was ram-rodded by the same DA who tried to railroad Tom DeLay.

I've never read that KBH or HRC travelled any more difficult a road than Sarah Palin due to being female.  I'm puzzled you don't seem to understand that Alaska is the last true "frontier" state.  Sarah Palin's improbable rise to power and attempts to stem corruption in her state are commendable and noteworthy because she is female.

Clinton v. Palin.  Clinton's accomplishments as Governor are questionable.  Arkansas was fairing little better in 1992 than it was in 1982.  There was a verifiable track record of graft and corruption that followed him.  He had questionable business dealings.  He was a BAU governor.

No one disputes Clinton's academic achievements, but they have little to do with his success as a politician.  He is clever as a fox.  He is also smooth, likeable, has a great charisma, he's a consensus-builder- a politician's politician.

Likeability is one of the most essential ingredients of a successful politician.