Charisma

To qualify the statement I made in the last post about Dion's charisma, charisma takes many different forms. Some people think that the only type of charisma is a gene that, among others, the Trudeaus carry in their DNA. But charisma comes in many forms; charisma isn't the ability to inspire, that's leadership. Charisma is simply the ability to convince mixed with likability. Dion is a forceful orator, a strong debator, and presents an air of quiet likability. Quiet likability may not be as exciting as flamboyance, but when people look at a man like Dion, I'm confident they will see a man who is honest and genuine. He has an expressive face which had a very difficult time hiding his mood this weekend; any time he appeared on camera on the big screen in the convention hall, you could tell exactly what he was feeling at the time - apprehensive, delighted, what have you, even sheepish when he was doing well, betraying a certain humility. This is an invaluable quality; it's not a pirouette or a swan dive, but that's just not the type of guy Dion is, and it would be dishonest for him to pretend to be that. Canadians are going to look at Stephane Dion and see an honest, smart, humble, likable man. I don't see how that is a negative, lack of sax-playing aside.