President or Prom King?

As we find ourselves in the heat of the national campaign for President, the question comes up yet again about what people are voting for. Yes, yes... we are going to vote for the President, but what does that actually mean to people? Clearly, there is a strong current of personal popularity that seems fairly disengaged from the actual policy endorsements the candidates propose.

I know that I would LOVE to have a beer with W or Barry. I would like to have a beer with Mitt though that seems unlikely and telling for why that is. It seems all too much a campaign for Prom King. Of course, Prom Queen is not an issue yet, though I have personally always said that Sarah Palin would make a great Prom Court Queen... if a shitty President/Vice President of the USA.

So now we have a story coming to light about how one candidate (not to rule out the good Dr Paul just yet) views gay people. Its not just an issue of public policy. Its an issue of personality. The privileged rich kid Romney went to prep school and apparently was a dastardly bully.

Obama was raised in a "broken" home by an anthropologist mother who took him to the antipodial side of the planet in his childhood to know people of very different beliefs and experiences than the typical American.

I happen to care most about public policy assertions when I choose to vote for a candidate to any office. But if it really does come down to Prom King? Obama... Barack Hussein Obama for Prom King. Now when do we get to vote for Prom Queen... or even Madam President?