Is There a Charisma in Politics?

In ancient Rome, there was what Geoffrey Winter's termed a ruling oligarchy where you had oligarchs but those oligarchs directly ruled. And similarly today, I think you're seeing perhaps a return to attempts by oligarchs to assert political power - partly because they're less certain now of their positions. But the thing that's interesting about today is that it's the civil oligarchy where nominally the rich do not rule directly. There is no property qualification for voting, but the rich are nonetheless able to use their money to influence politics to a point where it is as if they were ruling.