Paul Graham has a great essay on the subject (the pictures alone make it worth the read). It was probably the only thing I'd read of his before applying to Y Combinator (Steve was the true PG fan) and I'd always been meaning to write something of an addendum to this essay.
Then a few months back I saw this South Park episode and it said everything I wanted to, but with Abraham Lincoln -- one of our homely-est Presidents and arguably our greatest.
