A public servant doing the public's business in the public's eye has to have a good image or he/she will not have the public's support.
But the public's support is meaningless when it's based on their approval of a public servant's image rather than his/her policies.
We could start on Barack Obama, but this issue has been debated to death.
This entire topic is entertaining... despite the fact that I have little to no idea who any of the people that are being talked about here are. I barely know anything about the chimp lady, other then that she studied chimps for a ridiculously long time.
On the other hand, if you're British, you'd more than likely know more than is healthy about Jade Goody and virtually nothing about Jane Goodall (I admit, her name doesn't ring any bells).