Charles Oakland has posted an interesting piece over at Conservatives4Palin about leadership and the ability to inspire loyalty. He puts particular focus, naturally, on Sarah Palin and how, by virtue of everything she has achieved in her career, she has earned the loyalty of those she leads. It’s well-written, though it is slightly longer than War and Peace. (I kid, I kid. Read it, it’s worth your while.)

However, I think his overall point is wrong. Palin, whatever her accomplishments, does not inspire such loyalty because of them. Rather, she does so by the sheer force of her personality. Charisma, as I’ve said so many times, is the key to her leadership, as it is to President Obama’s as well.

This is not to deny her accomplishments, or Obama’s. Rather, I am saying that their accomplishments are irrelevant. I believe that the nature of charisma is such that they inspire loyalty because of who they are, not what they do or have done.