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PaperclipPerfector  6mo ago (text post)   27759 thread views

Culture War Roundup for the week of October 23, 2023

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I remember reading some accounts that Bill Clinton had an uncanny level of personal charisma that people who hadn't met him just didn't get. I think it's probably a more general quality of today's rigorously competitive political world. Maybe that's why politicians so often come off as incompetent or fake, that they're selected so strongly for personal charisma it leaves no room for other qualities.

Years ago, my uncle met Clinton very briefly and later remarked that Clinton had this incredible power to make you believe that he really cared about you, yes you, personally, even if you were just one person in a queue of hundreds taking turns to shake his hand.

So he's the real life Carrot Ironfoundersson.

Having a very quick hunt for similar anecdotes, I found one of Gillian Anderson who was convinced on the basis of a 30-second interaction that she would get a message from him the next day to meet again.

She didn't.

Not to be crass, but Anderson is way more attractive than Monica Lewinsky. No accounting for taste, old Bill.

His loss.

Having met Bill Clinton in a random and non-political situation, I can say that this is spot on. Guy was on the way to Chelsea’s bday party or something and I remain convinced that he would have preferred to stand there chatting with me instead.

In my experience most high-level US politicians have an unreal level of charm in person that is almost impossible to fully describe unless you've experienced it firsthand. I've met several politicians who I intensely disliked from afar, only to find myself instantly charmed by them in person. Never met Clinton, but he probably takes this to another level.

Also my experience. Even Newt Gingrich, possibly one of the least charismatic politicians I can readily think of, was quite a bit more charming than the average Joe when meeting him in person.

My favorite Clinton anecdote is that Newt Gingrich needed a chaperone to meet with Clinton because every time he went in alone he got charmed and gave Clinton whatever he asked for.

Bill Clinton (né William Jefferson Blythe III) might not have fallen too far from the tree. His biological father was a traveling salesman who married Bill's mother while still legally married to his 4th wife. He died in a car wreck before Bill was born. I wonder if we'll find the charisma gene?

My favorite Clinton anecdote is from TNR or maybe the New Yorker a while back. Doctor said, “Bill Clinton loves to talk; a friend of mine once got chance to meet him when they were both in the locker room of a racquetball club in Manhattan, and enjoyed the first hour of the conversation, but ended up faking a phone call from his wife as an excuse to prevent the chat from entering hour three.”

I suspect the surviving Bush and Obama might both do the same thing—just imagine being the top 0.001% for ambition and extroversion, with decades of life left, and every single job in America would be an embarrassing step down.

I suggest getting serially married men and successful salesmen together and giving them all dna tests.

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