Calm

by digby

Everyone agrees that Obama is calm, which is a good thing. I like calm leadership too. I think everyone does. Bush’s bizarre press conferences after 9/11 certainly didn’t make me feel reassured, although the press managed to convince everyone that our shaky, befuddled president was a great leader.

However, I would caution aqgainst anyone thinking that being “calm” is meaningful in terms of anything but temperament. Although the political establishment and the media like to conflate such personality characteristics with “character” and a propensity toward their favored moderation, it really doesn’t have anything to do with the success of a presidency. I have always been struck by how incredibly calm Dick Cheney is. And he’s a psychopath.

Like I said, I like calm and I particularly like Obama’s calm cool. But it doesn’t mean anything in and of itself.

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