Maybe it's just an east-coast thing, but I've heard from several people that Barack Obama's candidacy is frightening to them. He's too charismatic, they say; they'd rather have a cynical and shamelessly lying manipulator (Clinton or McCain) as president than someone who simply opens his mouth and says something awesome and gets people to cheer just by the sheer awesomeness of his message.
One of them went so far as to say, "You know who else was charismatic?" She then expounded upon the similarities between the rise of Senator Obama's candidacy for the 2008 presidential election and the rise of Corporal Hitler's star with the NSDAP in 1930s Germany.
What's wrong with this picture?
No, really. I don't get it. I don't see the similarities.
Maybe it's because I didn't grow up with any charismatic leaders who eventually disappointed, either by turning out to be assholes or by getting murdered before they could get elected. I never saw charisma in a political leader before. I was at one time attracted to the hypothetical candidacy of one candidate for State office - that's Richard Codey, by the way, for governor - but it was only because he was a qualified technocrat on an issue I cared a lot about, and because he had helped my family personally. It wasn't because he was shiny and golden; he was as corrupt a schmuck as New Jersey has ever produced. (Besides, he declined to run in the end, so Jon Corzine - another corrupt schmuck, but better than the Republican corrupt schmuck - got my vote.)
Anyway, there has got to be more behind this fear of charisma than the first-glance similarity to the rise of Hitler (in that people loved what Hitler said, too). For serious, let's look at the content of the speeches and political advertising, okay? Hitler and the NSDAP talked about Dolchtoss, fifth columns, extreme measures, etc. They also terrorized the populace with beatings and the occasional murder (remember, this is before they took power that I'm talking about.) Whereas Obama and his fans in the Democratic party don't talk about such nonsense, they talk about how we can make this a better country to live in by helping ordinary people rather than corporate fat cats, how we can make this a better country to come to by simplifying certain aspects of ICE bureaucracy, how we can save government (i.e., taxpayer) money and our precious bodily fluids by not expending or spilling them in Iraq, how we can restore normal and friendly relations with our allies rather than dictating to them or ignoring our responsibilities to them... I mean, FFS, there's no similarity. (Oh, and Democrats don't beat people up or murder them... at least, not as a matter of policy.)
And even the argument that Obama associates with dangerous people who do not love America. Devilstower has an excellent diary that addresses that. Okay, so... well, what about the inflammatory racist and anti-semitic statements of the Rev. J. Wright? Uh... I don't think I heard any reference to Jews in Rev. Wright's angry sermons, and I think he has a legitimate gripe with the system in this country that empowers white people at everyone else's expense. Okay, so Farrakhan? Obama has no direct connection to Farrakhan, and besides which, he has already spoken out against the latter's venomous rants. I don't think he can do much more - what do you want, for Obama to take a bat to Farrakhan's knees? We don't do things that way. There are laws against it and it's immoral to kneecap people for their opinions, besides.
So, can y'all tell me why charisma and a relationship with an eccentric pastor should disqualify an otherwise highly-qualified individual from running for President?