South Carolina Folow-up...

Why Just Having A Good Message Isn't Enough

The unfortunate truth is that most voters in any country are ignorant when it comes to solid knowledge of the issues. It takes just one person with charisma, and good oratorical ability to come in and sweep folks off their feet. Germany came to that unwelcome reality in 1933, but charisma doesn't always have to be a bad thing.

We Americans have had our Lincolns, Roosevelts, and Kennedys, all fully capable of walking into a room and captivating an audience. Now we have Barack Obama.

It suddenly occurred to me that if Thomas Jefferson ran for President today, he would probably have about as much chance as say...Ron Paul. And if the truth be known, Ron Paul is a much better public speaker than Jefferson ever could have been!

Jefferson didn't care much for the art of public speaking, probably because he was so terrible at it. He was so bad, in fact, that instead of giving and annual State of the Union "address" he simply sent a copy to Congress to be read. That seemed to be enough because we all know how well Jefferson could write.

Ron Paul likes to say that people have jumped on his band wagon because of his message, and he may be right. It's a good message. It's a solid message, and perhaps one of the most sensible, and constitutionally sound messages I have heard from any candidate for President. But the sad truth is that the mainstream isn't buying it. The reason for this is simple...the messenger lacks the charismatic flair that Americans demand in their candidates. Americans like to be sold something. Granted, the last two elections didn't give Americans much of a consumer choice, but that's about to change.

The election of 2008 promises to be different. Barack Obama, just spelled out that difference with resounding clarity in South Carolina. Fact is, if Barack goes on to grab the Democratic nomination, the Republicans might as well pack up their campaign headquarters and head home because the result in a national election will probably resemble the South Carolina Democratic primary.