Charisma

"They say he's got charisma," Mr. Peepers said abruptly, "But I've got more charisma in my right foot." Trust me on this, but this was a very small estimate of someone's charisma.

"Who are you talking about?" I asked, "Who has so little charisma?"

"O-bamm-a," he answered, pronouncing it to rhyme with "Alabama."

I was certain that Mr. Peepers didn't mean to compare Obama unfavorably with Senator McCain, so I had to ask, "Do you think Clinton has more charisma?" My own disbelief was probably obvious in my question.

"No," he conceded, "But she was our best chance to ever have a lady president."

"Why, do we need to have a lady president?"

"No, but she would have been best for us in New York State," he insisted, "I just don't see that charisma the media is always talking about."

So some people still haven't gotten over it, and not all of them are women. On the other hand, some people will never get it. Remind me to tell you sometime how Mr. Right thinks that Obama is the worst public speaker in American politics ...