They were both “successful” Florida governors, they both won their own re-elections handily, they looked like the next coming and then fizzled to nothing.
Pundits will be talking at every next election about not being another Ron DeSantis or Jeb Bush. Campaign advisors and managers will be telling their candidate, “Don’t be another Ron!”
This is one even my dog, who often sits next to me in coaching sessions, could wax poetic about, and be right.
In Hollywood they call it the IT factor. In 2007, Obama called it being likable . . . or not. In politics it has evolved into the art of “retail politics”.
Let’s face it, Americans are not exactly policy driven. The GOP didn’t even have a platform the last time Trump ran. To say it’s a candidates policies, seems to me a little weak when they don’t have any or talk about things not possible to accomplish. Often the things they say they are going to do their first day in office, they don’t even have the legal authority to do.
I can remember Ronnie, Ronald Reagan. Most people thought they would like to have lunch or a drink with him. If you remember Bush versus Kerry, the joke was people would have a beer with Bush but no one wanted to have a glass of wine with Kerry.
Why does this matter? Most of us are never going to have a meal, a drink or longer than a 30 second what passes as a conversation with a national elected official. WHY DOES THIS MATTER?
Because we want to like our candidates. We want to think we would like them if we spent time with them. Hillary wasn’t likable. Jeb tried contacts, and an open shirt, nothing seemed to make him more likable.
What passed for a smile on Ron DeSantis’s face wasn’t likable. He never looked comfortable in his own skin. The two senators from his own state did not support him, I guess he wasn’t likable even if you knew him.
Remember how Bush 43 used to mangle the word NUCLEAR. He always looked comfortable as he mispronounced it. You either have the IT factor or you don’t, you are either perceived as likable or not.
Can you take steps to make yourself more likable? Yes, absolutely. But first you have to look in the honest mirror and see what your audience sees. #likeable #electability #coaching
