Charm

... doesn't necessarily require affection.

If Obama can smile while Maureen Dowd gossips fripperies in that awful voice of hers, if he can be anywhere in the vicinity of William Kristol and David Brooks without crinkling his nose from the stench, he can deal with the bluffs and confidentialities of politics, foreign and domestic.

Rachel Maddow, on the other hand, would be worth talking to.