The cliché criticisms of Obama are (from the left) that he is a naïve centrist, not the audacious liberal that Democrats thought they were getting, and (from the right) that he is a socialist out to impose government on every corner of American life. But the real problem is that he’s so indistinct no one across the entire political spectrum knows who he is. A chief executive who repeatedly presents himself as a conciliator, forever searching for the “good side” of all adversaries and convening summits, in the end comes across as weightless, if not AWOL. . . .
Christie’s popularity among national right-wing activists and bloggers has been stoked by a viral YouTube video where he dresses down a constituent in a manner that recalls Ralph Kramden sending Alice “to the moon.” But the core of Christie’s appeal at home is that he explains passionately held views in concrete, plain-spoken detail. Voters know what he stands for and sometimes respect him for his forthrightness even when they reject the stands themselves. This extends to his signature issue — his fiscal and rhetorical blows against public education. He’s New Jersey’s most popular statewide politician despite the fact that a 59 percent majority in the state thinks public schools deserve more taxpayer money, not less.
G.O.P. propagandists notwithstanding, Christie’s appeal does not prove that New Jersey (and therefore the country) has “turned to the right.” It does prove that people want a leader with a strong voice, even if only to argue with it. (Frank Rich)
The problem is that Republicans and Independents admire the Christie communication style, but Dems don't. Dems on the whole don't like confrontation. They had a chance to put someone like that in national office in Howard Dean, but he was deemed unpresidential for his confrontational, straight-shooting style.
Liberals don't like confrontation; they like to be reasonable. But there's a time to be reasonable, and there's a time to fight. When your opponents show up to a negotiation with baseball bats, broken bottles, and bicycle chains, maybe that's a signal that it's not time to be reasonable and conciliatory. Maybe being reasonable in a situation like that signals to your opponents and everybody watching that you're a wuss whose afraid of a fight and that you can be intimidated into giving away the store.
Maybe that's why my relatives think Obama doesn't have the capability to govern. One told me over Thanksgiving that Democrats think that the president has to be the smartest guy in the room. Republicans don't. They just want somebody they can count on.
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