Not a Popularity Contest

This is a refreshingly realistic observation:

I am somewhat pleased by the fact that very few of the frontrunners in either party are particularly likeable. We have had 7 elections in a row in which we were supposed to
care about how much we "liked" the candidates [...]
[...]

We're not electing a dad or a mom or a best friend. We're electing someone who is supposed to: show up on time and sober every day, even when he's on vacation; work his (or her) tail off; juggle an enormous amount of responsibility; use good judgment with little information or time to respond; appoint reasonably competent people
to wield enormous (and sometimes lifetime) power; engage in hardball political negotiations with a sometimes-hostile and sometimes-stupid Congress.

I want a competent President who uses his head and who, at least occasionally, sees things "my way". I don't care if he or she is a jerk.

Quite so. We're electing a President, not a Prom King.