Check out this article from politico.com and then this response from newsbusters.org. The title says it all, "For Obama, Hipness Is What It Is."
This fawning quote from politico is a little hard to take. "During his first 100 days as president of the United States, Barack Obama revealed how different he is from all the white men who preceded him in the Oval Office, and the differences run deeper — in substance and style — than the color of his skin.
"Barack Hussein Obama is the nation’s first hip president. This, of course, is subject to debate. But watch him walk. Listen to him talk. See the body language, the expressions, the clothes. He’s got attitude, rhythm, a sense of humor, contemporary tastes.
"This much is clear: Whether dealing with the Wall Street mess, shifting troops from Iraq to Afghanistan or fumbling to fill his Cabinet, Obama leans heavily on personal panache to push political policies. Truth be told, his style is rooted in something elusive and hard to define. Pure and simple, it’s hip."
And hipness is so important in a president. We see how it won over the Iranians... "Happy nowruz to us, everyone!"
Obama's clothes don't seem all that different to me and I subscribe to the belief that clothes don't make the man. His expressions are arrogant, smug, and aloof to me-- is that hip now? He is half-Kenyan and raised in Hawaii, which I suppose counts for this "new cadence" in his speech that so many drool over. Of course, the fact that it's an affectation seems completely irrelevant to everyone.
And as Michael Bates from newsbusters.org point out, "To buttress his assertion of Obama's hipness, the author quotes John Leland of The New York Times, longtime Democratic operative Roger Wilkins, and Deborah Tannen, professor of linguistics. Wilkins and Tannen are themselves apparently hip, both having contributed money to Obama's campaign. That hip fact didn't merit reporting."
I just love it when the free press supports their pro-Obama articles with quotes from Obama-cronies. Very hip indeed...
I tried really hard to read that article but finally decided it was a parody. I guess not. How sad.
ReplyDeleteNo, if Obama is "hip," I'll take stodgy any day.
The part about Michelle being so cool was equally hard to take. "Sleeveless!" Get a grip people!
"Truth be told, his style is rooted in something elusive and hard to define."
ReplyDeleteNot for people who can recognize narcissism.
But if someone is trying to promote a leader who displays almost no substance and who is desperately lacking in experience and polish, I guess that would be a bit "hard to define" in public.
The most palatable option left would be to peddle the qualities of clumsy arrogance as "cool."
Too bad this marketing works so well on dedicated followers of fashion. And it is dismaying that so many would so eagerly define themselves as such.