KIND OF NICE

The conservatives often try to portray male Democrats as being less than completely "manly," and that usually comes down to the claim that they aren't "strong" or "decisive." That smear meme doesn't seem to have worked against Obama.

Poll: Obama leadership rates high as Bush's after 9/11
From Paul Steinhauser
CNN Deputy Political Director
updated 9:51 p.m. EST, Wed December 31, 2008

Seventy-six percent of Americans questioned in a CNN/Opinion Research Corp. survey released Wednesday said Obama is a strong and decisive leader.

"That's the best number an incoming president has gotten on that dimension since Ronald Reagan took office in 1981," CNN Polling Director Keating Holland said.

Eight in ten Americans said Obama inspires confidence, can get things done and is tough enough to be president, three characteristics Americans look for in a leader and the three qualities on which Obama got his highest scores.

He also gets higher marks than Bush did in 2001 on honesty, values, issues, management abilities and compassion.