Look at, listen to, and consider the dealings of President Barack Obama over the course of his nearly four years in office.  He exemplifies the "fun guy at the party" stereotype.  You know.  You've been there.  The fun guy is the one who cracks a few jokes, tells a dazzling story or two that captivates those around him, and yet you wonder if anything he says is true.  He's the smooth talker who appears to befriend everyone but is the personification of shallow.  He's the guy who orders round after round only to disappear just before the check comes, stiffing his so-called friends.

Recall Obama's tough talk on the Today show in February 2009 regarding the economy: "If I don't have this done in three years, then this is going to be a one-term proposition."

He appeared confident -- braggadocious, even.  Of course, there was nothing in his past to give anyone any evidence that he could do this, but he sure sounded confident, and people just took him at his word like lemmings and nodded their heads in agreement.

People bought into his charisma, equating his messages of hope with the ability to succeed at the task at hand.  Yet, as is clear today, he was shallow, empty of any meaningful ideas, and certainly devoid of any experience in creating or sustaining jobs in a business or organization.

He told and continues to tell these marvelous stories about the millions of jobs he's created, yet we see that today's real unemployment rate is a whopping 15%.  Obama, unfettered by the acts, goes into a smooth diatribe of how these untraceable jobs are in fact real, hoping we'll trust him and buy his apparent sincerity.  All the while, you wonder if having so many Americans out of work and dependent on the government for financial assistance doesn't play into his seemingly endless push to have government more involved and controlling of our lives.

Like the fun guy at the party, there's a big part of you that wants to believe Obama.  You think to yourself that surely this person isn't looking me in the eye and lying straight to my face.  Surely he has some degree of evidence for his claims.  Yet when you stack the data and facts against his words, there is a striking disparity.

Teleprompter in hand, like the fun guy, Obama is a smooth talker.  We saw him speak calmly and decisively in Charlotte at the Democratic Party's convention in Charlotte.  The message was clearly rehearsed, the annunciations practiced.  His message differed little from his speeches when he sought the presidency in 2008, except for one glaring difference -- this time, he's had four years to practice what he's preached, and he's failed, and failed miserably.

With his first and hopefully only term in office nearly complete, Obama's also stuck the American taxpayer with a hefty bill in the tradition of the fun guy at the party.  He bought a round for the fellas at Solyndra, a few rounds at General Motors, and he used other people's money -- your money, in fact -- to fund his and Michelle's lavish vacations, with Michelle having taken some sixteen of them in less than three years. 

That's befitting someone who has a user mentality, often enough like that of the fun guy at the party.  He's interested in you only to the extent of what you can do for him -- not so much what he can do for you.  He's more than happy to get some level of enjoyment, with you paying the tab.

Amazingly, a majority of voters fell for the stories and smooth talk in 2008.  Now, some four years later, Obama has at least a reasonable chance of being re-elected despite a dismal economy.  Under his watch, we've seen an exploding deficit, and he was able to push through a government-controlled health care plan that a majority of Americans opposed.  None of this should cause anyone to stand up and say that Obama's his choice.

But that's the fun guy appeal.  For many, their minds have to tell them that he's a dismal failure and a fake, but there's just something about him.  Just like the fun guy at the party, Obama seems like a nice guy to them, and they want to believe...and they will, despite the overwhelming evidence.

Let's hope that enough voters aren't duped again by Obama, who's had plenty of fun at the taxpayer's expense.  We're stuck with a poor economy and a lackluster labor market to show for it.

Chad Stafko is a writer and political consultant living in the Midwest.  He can be reached at stafko@msn.com.