Follow the leader
Mixing pomp, politics and pop culture, Barack Obama’s second inauguration as president was the closest thing the US had to a royal coronation. Like many of you, I love a good party and that’s exactly what I got to see — a weekend filled with parades and performances, including Beyoncé’s newsworthy version of the national anthem.
I’ve always found America’s First Family eminently fascinating, but it was while watching CNN’s inaugural ball coverage that I realized why: Barack Obama is, like, really cool. I heard DJ snippets of Lisa Lisa and Cult Jam’s I Wonder If I Take You Home and Shannon’s Let The Music Play — ‘80s tunes that were huge, presumably, when the Obama couple were in college — playing in the background. That decade, one I never truly experienced, spells fun to me so thumbs way up, POTUS.
Four or so years down the line, I know that saying this is akin to declaring that water is wet. But setting aside his prominent mentions of climate change, marriage equality or the protection of voting rights, he’s a leader that’s as capable and in control as he is slick and sophisticated. Old enough to be taken seriously by the establishment but young enough to capture the Twitter generation’s admiration, individuals such as Barack Obama occupy a special, lonely orbit.
Telenovela good looks
There’s an old saw that refers to politics as showbiz for ugly people. Of course there are exceptions that glimmer with celebrity-like wattage. In power for less than two months, Mexican president Enrique Peña Nieto has “moved vigorously on a reformist agenda… and brought a measure of joy and pomp†to his country’s leadership, reports The Miami Herald. It would be a stretch to connect Mexico’s consumer confidence, the highest in five years, to the 46-year-old former governor’s telenovela good looks but I’ll do so anyway.
Meanwhile, the popularity of Cristina Fernández de Kirchner, Argentina’s first female elected president in 2007, may have dropped as the global recession battered the local economy. Still, by re-electing Mrs. Kirchner by a wide margin in 2011 “voters seemed willing to look past some troubling signs,†says the New York Times. Her famous passion for clothes combined with her signature of delivering speeches with images of Eva Perón in the background give her a foxy, Real Housewives of Buenos Aires air.
hottest heads of state
Things, however, are not looking that pretty for Ukraine’s Yulia Tymoshenko, who in 2009 ranked number one in the Hottest Heads of State blog. (It still exists but hasn’t been updated in years). Quite attractive, with a hairdo that resembles braided bread, the jailed ex-premier has recently been made a suspect in organizing a 1990s murder. And though Vladimir Putin, number 23 on the same list, has been blasted by the feminist punk band Pussy Riot, you have to concede that the Russian president does have that odd Daniel Craig thing going on.
“Why get bogged down in a discussion about international diplomacy when you can stick to what you know — who’s hot and who’s not?†said Time magazine cheekily about the superficiality. While rebloggable coolness and giffable attractiveness may not be the primary requirements of the job, statesmen who possess both, and competent to boot, are boons to the nations they represent.
The masses may like to see the common touch, someone approachable and “just like them,†but I doubt they’d want the country run by their next-door neighbor. Screw ordinary; give me extraordinary. Will the Philippines ever have a president as charismatic as Barack Obama?
* * *
