Glamour vs. Charisma

Virginia Postrel, writing for Bloomberg, does an insightful analysis of our President's difficulties. She says in 2008 we thought he had charisma but all he really had was glamour.

Postrel points out how these two are not the same. Perhaps the key quote is this:

If you think of Barack Obama as a charismatic president, it is hard to explain why his supporters are so angry. He should be able to win them over. But if you understand his appeal as glamour, then his problems aren’t surprising.

And she explains why.