Do clothes make the leader?

Not as far as I’m concerned. You can dress any idiot in a fancy suit and he’ll still be an idiot.

i think ppl make snap decisions about ppl from first impressions. I personally don’t care who wears what; if they open their mouths and sound like an idiot I could care less what they wear, like loser said; they’re still an idiot. I prefer ppl who care more about the issues than if the shoes match their outfit.
I do, however, like ppl who are clean and not messy. I hate clothes with stains…much like the new commercial—it’s all I see.

Did someone mention judging books by their covers?

I think that people do judge leaders by their clothes to an extent. If you can cut a nice figure people notice and will give you a second look and maybe even a bit more respect. I think that the fact that Obama’s style is a bit different works in his favor. People want change, and right or wrong, they think that shows that he is willing to shake things up a bit. I also think that Obama has enough confidence to pull of a more unique style. McCain would come off looking like a goofball.

Mr. Maverick and his running mate don’t shake things up at all in the wardrobe department, boring, boring, boring. Same old thing.

Jvgr: Not to say it’d be any more accurate,
but it’d be interesting if books could choose their covers, no?

see, here’s the thing: i think people who consciously choose clothing already have the brains. this question is not about idiots in nice clothes. it’s about clothing choices that set them apart from the norm or expected attire. if a ceo shows up to a biz meeting in a hunting sportcoat with suede patches, it says something about the person.

Without realizing it, we assume that if someone cares enough to dress nicely and take care of themSELVES, they’ll also “take care” of us.

I can’t remember the name of the movie starring Jennifer Aniston, but a memorable line from that film said: “Don’t dress for the job you have, but for the job you WANT”.

In a limited way. Most people don’t look much beyond appropriate attire. So unless you dress really badly, it will be OK. Also, in politics, you have the problem that people are put off by politicians dressing too richly (ministers have this issue too). It means they are spending our money on superficial things like clothes.

You are probably too young to remember Pat Nixon and her “good cloth coat.”

Unfortunately, I do believe that clothes play an enormous role in human interactions. It seems to me that an awful lot of people vote based on so-called “charater” issues, like leadership, trustworthyness, toughness, morality, fidelity, and more.

For people who make choices this way, clothes, posture, manner of speaking and other visual cues are extremely important in assessing character. Bush2 was a “good ole boy.” Also, as a Christian, they figured he would cheat on his wife the way Clinton (another good old boy) did. What they forgot, or never knew, was that cheating in business is so much more costly. Well, they voted for Bush anyway, and he had been very clear about what he would do. I conclude that the American People wanted this economic crisis.

Ok, so that’s going too far, but it shows the stupidity of voting based on character, especially when you use appearance as an analog for character.

Still, I don’t expect things to change. People have too much to do to all become policy analysts. Many are not interested in politics until the last month. In between, they don’t get any news (unless it’s from Steve Colbert, or from their preacher), so they don’t really have the background to understand what’s going on or to make an informed choice.

So, to conclude, appearance matters very much in elections, and I don’t see that changing—ever.

Au contraire, the leader makes the clothes!