Wednesday, May 16, 2012

Obama -- a Manly Man?

If the New York Times' David Brooks has fallen off the ObamaTrain, there is truly hope in the air.

I can't go along with his masculinization of the metrosexual Young President whom he describes as "postfeminist in his values, but also thoroughly traditional in style — hypercompetitive, restrained, not given to self-doubt, rarely self-indulgent." I especially can't concur with his attributing to Obama the characteristic of "rarely self-indulgent."  Puh-leeze!  You Google "self-indulgent" and his picture crops up in the first line! (Or, maybe the second line if Michelle's smiling face is in first place).

The last paragraph of the op-ed piece lends hope to those of us who fervently pray that the left-leaning lurch that this country has taken may slow and resume a more moderate -- dare I say maybe even conservative -- course:

I’d say that Obama is a slight underdog this year: the scuffling economy will grind away at voters. But his leadership style is keeping him afloat. He has defined a version of manliness that is postboomer in policy but preboomer in manners and reticence.   
But, attributing anything resembling traditional manliness to #44 is to make one laugh.  Or at least to giggle behind one's hand.


Hee hee!

10 comments:

  1. Rarely self-indulgent? Really David? Sheesh. How 'bout we stop fussing over personality, pre-this, post-that and trouser creases, and begin fussing over POLICIES and RESULTS.

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  2. Looks like Newsweek was being more literal than I thought....

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  3. Lord. He's the epitome of the non-masculine male who stops just short of swish. Add his narcissism and arrogance and you have seriously NOT attractive.

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  4. In re: Obama and manliness. You need to check out The Mayor's post on the subject.

    In re: Brooks. I useta like the guy but nowadays he just makes me cringe. He's a regular on McNeil-Lehrer and Charlie Rose, but how those two shows get by with billing him as "conservative" is beyond me. I'm glad you read his column so I don't have to, Moogie.

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    1. Oh. My. The pics at the Mayor's are über creepy.

      The Brooks column ran in our paper yesterday. He's not one of my regular reads for your reasons.

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  5. Obama "Manly"? Not even if he was being compared to Michael Jackson and Pee Wee Herman.

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