As one former aide told me, Hillary Clinton ran on issues, while Obama ran on character, apparently not seeing how the two should reinforce each other. “Axelrod will tell you they won because of character, not issues,” the former aide said. “It’s a touchstone for how they think about the world… Ideas aren’t that important to them.”That rings true. I've seen President Obama as a technocrat who depends upon his personal story rather than vision to inspire from the beginning. And truthfully, the symbolism of his ascent to the top is inspiring. But it only takes you so far. Unfortunately for him, technocrats are not doing very well in the current crisis
. Character and personal qualities seem to matter less to voters this year than in recent elections; the 12% mentioning these is roughly half the percentage that did so in 2000 and 2008. In 2004, 40% mentioned character, making it the most common category of responses that year.
