Experience V. Charisma

As of late, I have been using my ipod for the podcasts and not the music.  Even at work.  Any time the store is not open, employees are allowed to listen to mp3 players or cd players (for the thirty somethings) or tape players (for the forty somethings).  It is nice.  As long as you have only one earpiece in (for safety reasons).  It is nice of the company to allow that.  It makes the first two hours I'm at work go by quickly.  

One of the podcasts I came across was KCRW's Left, Right and Center.  It is a thirty(ish) minute political podcast where the host is very central on the political spectrum and there are two guest hosts (one who is liberal and one conservative.  Title make sense now?).  These aren't the crazies that you find on CNN or Fox News.  They listen to each other and give great insight into the topics that they cover.  Very mellow, very informative.  Very geeky as well, I suppose.  I got weird looks when people ask me what I was listening to.  

One of the episodes that I just listened to was broadcasted on the forth of July.  The main focus was on what the definition of patriotism is.  The obvious answer is the flag waving, support the troops, support the president, etc. etc.  However, the liberal host (her name is Arianna [not sure if that is spelled correctly]) brought up the point that patriotism can also be standing for what you believe in.  If you believe in protesting the current war, for example, that can be seen as your patriotic duty.  It doesn't seem to make a lot of sense at first, but after thinking about it, it does.  Protesting is a form of free speech and the right to assemble if you do so in a big or even large group.  Those two things are outlined in the governing construct that our country was based on.  

Another episode they cover why the two candidates are good candidates.  McCain has all those years of experience and Obama has a ton of charisma.  If you haven't heard it, try to find the speech he gave in Berlin.  It is fantastic.  It is a politician's speech I can listen to and not get bored.  So that leads to the question, which kind of man would you follow or possibly vote for?  An experienced man (with not a lot of charisma [in my opinion]) or a charismatic leader (with not a lot of experience).  It is an interesting point to think about.