Of course to some degree performance, charisma, and general likability matter in politics, though given the general hotness level of our members of Congress I think charisma matters far less than pundits often imagine, but the primary focus of political journalists on those largely unmeasurable qualities both obscures the stuff that actually should matter more - policy! - and convinces people who are looking to what they imagine are authorities for some guidance that performance is the thing that should matter.
It's depressing.
