Barack Obama's charisma shows charisma makes star quality

The argument

Political discourse is undoubtedly one of the most important qualities that a politician could possess. Since the beginning of his 2008 campaign, Barack Obama has been praised by reporters, businessmen, and politicians alike for his natural charisma, leadership abilities, and public speaking skills. Obama’s magnetism is what drew record-setting crowds to his rallies and inauguration; his strong public presence and speech style has led to comparisons to John F. Kennedy, Winston Churchill, Martin Luther King Jr., and Gandhi. Before he was elected president, Obama used his charismatic personality to establish credibility among his peers. He won the Harvard Law Review’s presidential election in the early 1990s, despite the journal’s overwhelmingly conservative staff. According to political scientist Michael Nelson, when Obama was elected to a Republican-controlled state senate in 1996, he still “was able to get campaign finance reform and crime legislation enacted even though his party was in the minority”. When Democrats took over the Senate in 2002, he “became a leading legislator on a wide range of issues, passing nearly 300 bills.” Obama’s charismatic nature has also helped him to build a positive relationship with the media, and his unwavering advocacy for LGBT, minority, and women’s rights have made him a popular figure among American liberals. In Obama’s speeches, the theme of national unity takes precedence; he frequently reiterates the greatness of the American people as a whole and promotes a common culture without targeting certain groups or demographics. He presents himself as a working man; the personal anecdotes, memories, and stories that he includes in his speeches make him appear less intimidating and more trustworthy to the average listener. Barack Obama's charisma has given him a huge advantage in working his way to the President of the United States, as well as allowing him to easily push for changes he wishes to enact.

Premises

Counter-arguments

Barack Obama is indeed known for being a highly charismatic politician. It is not his charisma, however, but rather his resilience and ability to overcome adversity that made him such an iconic and historical figure not only in America but in many other parts of the world as well. From the beginning of his first campaign until his last day as president, Obama was targeted with threats of violence, outrageous conspiracy theories, and racism due to the color of his skin. His religion and citizenship status were constantly questioned, even by high-profile figures such as current president Donald Trump. Despite the continuous attempts to destroy his reputation, Obama went on to win the 2008 and 2012 presidential elections and became America's first black president. Regardless of politics, this achievement - especially in a country with a long history of racism - proved Obama's resilience, and made him a role model to hundreds of thousands of young people across the United States.

Rejecting the premises

[Rejecting P1] Praise and crowd sizes measure the effect the argument set out to explain rather than its cause. Comparisons to Kennedy, Churchill, King and Gandhi are the stock vocabulary commentators reach for about any celebrated orator, so the premise takes the reception as proof of the quality that supposedly produced it. [Rejecting P2] Each achievement has a readier explanation than personal magnetism: the Law Review presidency turned on an editorial vote and a reputation for even-handedness, and passing legislation in a chamber controlled by the other party is ordinarily credited to negotiation, committee position and drafting. Charisma is asserted as the cause rather than isolated from these. [Rejecting P3] Themes of unity and relatable anecdote are standard, widely taught features of political speechwriting, so their presence marks a competent speech rather than an exceptional individual. And granted in full, the premises show at most that charisma helped one politician succeed — the position needs charisma to be what constitutes star quality, which a single case cannot settle against the seven rival qualities listed alongside it.