(CNN) -- "Beware the fury of the patient man." -- John Dryden In January, 1956, Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser was pledging to take over Palestine. In the United States, a "sensational new RCA Victor Star," just days away from cracking the music charts with his first hit, "Heartbreak Hotel," was touring with Hank Snow and the stars of Grand Old Opry. Norma Jeane Mortenson was preparing to change her name. Also that month, a fresh-faced U.S. senator gave Richard Nixon an autographed copy of his second book, "Profiles in Courage". In that best-seller, John F. Kennedy applauded leaders with the courage to represent "the actual sentiments of the silent majority of their constituents in opposition to the screams of a vocal minority." That "silent majority" was a constituency neither Nixon nor the country would forget: Fifty-six years later, Mitt Romney is counting on it to win the presidency.
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Alex Castellanos says election may echo old split between cultural elite, silent majority
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He says Obama is widely viewed as the "cool president," Romney is the opposite of cool
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Castellanos: Could Romney's persona be a plus in this year's election?
He wrote, "Never have @placeholder's leading cultural media, its university thinkers, its influence makers been more intrigued by experiment and change; but in no election have the mute masses more completely separated themselves from such leadership and thinking."
We chose the strait-laced personification of everything @placeholder is not.