Bernie's In

Likable to whom? War criminals are not on my likability list.

Likable to whom? War criminals are not on my likability list.

At a prayer breakfast the morning after the third 1988 presidential debate in Los Angeles, Democratic candidate Michael Dukakis turned to Jesse Jackson and said, "Jesse, there's a new word in the political lexicon — 'likability.' "
The befuddled Dukakis was responding to critics who said the rather wooden Massachusetts governor lost the debate because he failed to project "likability" in his face-off with then-Vice President George H.W. Bush.

Critics referred specifically to his mechanical response when asked if he would favor the death penalty if his wife were raped and murdered.

Dukakis never got it. He believed being hardworking, honest, knowledgeable, experienced and articulate were the main qualifications for president. What's to like?

He lost, in large part, because he never connected on a personal level with most American voters. They found his dour, eat-your-peas personality hard to take.

Now, another son of Massachusetts, John Kerry, finds himself facing the likability hurdle as he runs for president. And a high one it is indeed.

President Bush, despite his many problems, strikes most of the American people as a pretty nice guy — the kind of guy they would feel comfortable with if he showed up at their front door. The more standoffish Kerry projects little warmth.

A recent Zogby/Williams Identity Poll reflected that. It found that 57% of undecided voters would rather have a beer with Bush than Kerry. (In Bush's case, it would be a nonalcoholic beer.)

While both were raised with silver spoons in their mouths and both went to Yale, Bush comes off as less pretentious and more down to earth. Kerry sounds like he is lecturing people rather than holding a conversation with them.

"Snob" is a word often used by people when asked how Kerry strikes them. "Nice guy" is the way many express their response to Bush.

According to The New York Times, a personal secretary to the pope found Sanders while he was at dinner and told him where and when to be if he wanted to catch Francis. It may be mostly one-sided, but the love affair of Bernie and Francis is not unrequited: Against all logic, the world’s foremost Catholic theologian and a socialist who’s running for United States president have found a jam.