> Why can't you be intellectual and educated, yet still "have a beer"? You're forgetting your 2000 election cycle. It was the GOP and pundits that made the dis

> Why can't you be intellectual and educated, yet still "have a beer"? You're forgetting your 2000 election cycle. It was the GOP and pundits that made the distinction between the two as a way to cover for GWB's lackings in comparison with Gore, who was seen as more intelligent but too stiff (the kind of person you wouldn't want to have a beer with). While my quote marks may not have been an exact quote, I was using them to signal that it wasn't my terminology...it was all over the news at the time. Yes, the two are not mutually exclusive...that goes without saying. But that doesn't negate the fact that they've been played against each other in US politics for the past 17 years now as a way of undermining more intellectual candidates. You can see this in the ways that Obama carries himself. His mannerisms tend to signal basketball fan far more than they do constitutional law scholar. More so than any other President in recent times, he's tried to cultivate a sense of humor. It is, perhaps, the starkest difference you notice between him and Clinton, who was never really able to achieve that kind of down-to-earth image. This is not to suggest that Clinton is smarter or even that Obama isn't smart...quite the opposite. That while both are intelligent, it was Obama's ability to be seen as something more that allowed him to win. While I think he was every bit their equal or better intellectually, he won by out-beering McCain and Romney.