As in anyone’s life, leadership is part about charisma and part about talent/intelligence. By now we agree that Abiy started with charism impressing the masses and that is hard to erase from public consciousness as collective psychology takes time to do and undo what it made up. It is debatable if Abiy started or governed or is intelligent or competent. Here I’m not saying if one likes him or not or if you like what he does or not. Judged on the results he endeavored in, did he fare competent or not is the standard of evaluation:
(1) Abiy has injected the Oromo philosophy of being connected with nature and this you can see with his dedication to vegetation and trees
planting campaigns. This is a result generations would judge him for unlike 
or 
we rate him with the shortage of cooking oil, nuro wudinet… Covering the land with vegetation is a measurable standard that is undeniable.(2) Leave right and wrong aside and think of survival instinct. You may have good or bad views of him or the TPLF. I’m sure no one would find it easy to stave off TPLF in Mekelle and most of all, outfoxing TPLF in November 2020 and reversing their fortune ever since. If results matter and if survival is the measure of coming out intact in dirty politics, you should give him that. Do you think any technocrat, businessman or opposition leader have done as good as Abiy if they had to deal with TPLF as he did? I doubt it that even Birhanu Nega wouldn’t have this much success as Abiy did over TPLF because he had the advantage of being an insider to know about TPLF.
(3) Abiy has one character that is dangerous. He wants to appear foolish, mundane and clueless. This indirectly gives opponents the impression to underestimate him. And being underestimated is a value that would help you to outfox them fox
. This is true for the post-Meles TPLF which used to call Abiy “Meshrefet” which they stopped calling him after their vacation in qolla Tembien. And what best virtue than being a Galla to be underestimated? (Meles has the unique quality of not underestimating a foe. I heard he has a real insane/crazy homeless eliminated because that guy spoke nonstop against TPLF.)(4) Being underestimated also took the steam out of the political opposition. The opposition were used to being chased, cornered and they hit their energy from the acts of the ruling party. Now when left alone and see in Abiy a foolish foe they lowered their urgency and that killed their energy.
(5) Acting the way he acts and with all the mudslinging thrown on him, nothing seems to stick on him. People still don’t complain about anything bad he did. People are complains about things he didn’t do - not being a brutal tyrant and do dictator’s justice by killing, imprisoning those who disturb the peace… And this is evaluation of a different world because people don’t start a revolution for this. People start revolution when you kill them, repress them and oppress them. That is why in this media freedom and wide political space, not much mud is sticking on him that has political repercussion.
(6) Abiy is also a good lightening rod for the political force that is doing its job behind the scenes. He is out there to absorb and diffuse the YouTube and twitter talk and the urban legend of Addis while the real people are doing the bidding of the hitherto oppressed masses.
So keep the mudslinging and the chatter directed at the lightening rod and enjoy the 0rgasm of underestimating the Galla Abiy. Leave the real job in the background for the grownups.
Because there are leaders who are embodiment of the end to the means and there are those who are the means to the end.