Obama-Pelosi, Obama-Pelosi, Obama-Pelosi

After watching the speech Tuesday night by Barack Obama I must say he is a teriffic orator and a wonderful salesman for the policies of the democrats. He speaks beautifully, with great clarity and gives the listener the sense that he is talking directly to them. He is, in fact, the pitch man for the democratic agenda and is able to persuade listeners to agree with his plans, a talent that is highly valuable to democrats. It is critical to look past the messenger and look at the message.
In contrast, our last president was the exact opposite, unable to sell his program to the American people. His poor communication skills led people to question him, his intelligence, and his policies. This demonstrates the importance of charisma, appeal, and TV presence in the marketing of ideas and policies. The truth is, those skills are a talent like any other and really do not correlate with intelligence. Many people in history were able to coerce the populace through language but later tuned out disastrous. Obama is not necessarily more intelligent than Bush or a better leader than Bush solely due to his oratory skills.
In contrast, there is no one that turns me off quite as much as Nancy Pelosi. She comes off as extremely arrogant and one who memorizes talking points with very little depth. Now I dont know if this actually the case but this is her TV personae. This is how she comes off on television, similar to the robotic personality that Al Gore portrayed.
I think a great strategy for the republicans would be to tie Obama to Pelosi as much as possible. They should always address the democratic agenda as the Obama-Pelosi plan. This is exactly what the democrats did to Mccain in the election by always referring to his plan as the Mccain-Bush agenda. Regardless of the veracity of this tie, it was effective. I believe it would be effective against the democrats as well.
Sadly, we as voters care more about appearances than substance. We are too lazy to explore deeper than the most superficial layers. At best we listen to short sound bites rather than to take the time to understand complex issues. We put more imporatance on how someone looks or sounds rather than the content of what they are saying. This is why politics has become more of a marketing battle rather than a true debate on the issues.