TheHouse
This is a fantastic question (the orginal post) and I will give a nonpartisan answer.
Charisma should be completely irrelavant when deciding a leader in my opinion.
Martin Luther King, Abraham Lincoln, Franklin D. Roosevelt, John F. Kennedy and Ronald Reagan all were positive leaders with great charisma that were able to engage their audiences and inspire people to bring about positive change.
On the other hand, Adolph Hitler was one of the most charismatic speakers/leaders ever and was also able to engage their audiences and inspire people to bring about change….unfortunately negative change. History will also show that Julius Caesar, Napoleon, Pol Pott, Mao ZeDong and Che Guevara also had great charisma.
So, charisma could possibly inspire a nation of equality or it could inspire a nation of genocide. At best you have a 50/50 success rate if you select a leader simply based on charisma.
In the current race, Barak Obama clearly is the most charismatic speaker that is running and even I listen to him and think “Wow…he will change this great country”. The issue is that a great portion of our country stops right there and does not make an educated decision.
No matter what side of the fence you are on, reading these will drop your IQ by 10 points but they’re funny nonetheless:
http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20080209220453AABsdO9
http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20080214055108AA8ZIbt