Brawner: President Obama Should Like His Chances

Stephens Media columnist Steve Brawner sizes up the current state of the Presidential election.

Brawner sees major problems with Romney and Gingrich, the two GOP front-runners. Obama is sitting on a mountain of campaign cash, no primary opponent and to a degree, he may be better liked than his current top two challengers.

Writes Brawner:

Unlike Romney, Gingrich would excite the party base, but he has a major problem in the general election: He is not likable enough. I know this is terribly subjective, and I know that many people don’t think Obama is likable, but Gingrich surely is not.

Put it this way: In the idea column, Gingrich definitely can stand toe to toe with Obama. But, based on what I remember from the last time Gingrich was in power, which was in the mid-1990s, and what I have seen since, more people will find Obama more likable than him.

I don’t mean that to be a personal criticism. In the real world, likability is a nice quality but not a necessity. Bill Gates is not particularly likable and neither was Steve Jobs, but both changed the world, and both in more than one way.

But in a presidential election, Americans aren’t just choosing a commander-in-chief and head of state. We’ve got to live with this person for four years. We have to like him or her. And I would submit that the more likable candidate has won every presidential election going back at least to 1980 and probably to 1972.

Read more of Brawner’s take at this link.