photocredit: PRNewsFoto/NEWSWEEK
Sarah Palin and I agree on one thing: the need to promote healthy eating (eating what you kill) and exercising (killing what you eat). On everything else, I feel her politics are all shine, no substance. What will make me note-worthy? What will get me headlines? Drilling into a national reserve? OK!
But there is something Sarah Palin represents in today’s politics that cannot be ignored: sex and beauty. She does not necessarily embody either, but her popularity, if not people’s curiosity in her, is partly based on both. She sparkles, she clacks, she exudes near-aesthetic perfection in an industry that was once called “the Hollywood for ugly people.” Her recent appearance on Oprah, with her trademark messy/sexy hair, videos of her working out, and catty nicknames for female anchors ( Katie Couric, “the perky one”), remind us why she mattered in 2008. She wants your attention, and gosh darn it, she will get it.
Palin cannot claim exclusivity to this well-manicured terrain. In fact, she may be the one who has used it the least to her advantage. Sex appeal, glitz, and shine has been used by the pols for decades. The first to sell himself with sex appeal might have been President Kennedy. The pictures of him on the beach, on a boat, and with his brothers, they all let America know they had a chance to show sexiness to the world. And they did, after comparing the young strapping Navy boy with Nixon, a man unfit for the magnifying glass of the media. Kennedy used his appeal so adroitly that decades after his affair, his short, and by many measures, mixed performance as a president, he is still regarded as one of our nation’s best ever and loved by millions.
The next one to use it was someone many thought was JFK’s second coming. Bill Clinton used it (abused it) and suffered the consequences of commanding too much mojo. His sex appeal relied more on his talk than his looks. His tongue, however, was only mighty enough to keep afloat, after dashing his ambitious agenda for his second term. John Edwards fell down the same path, unable to contain himself, his impeccable hair, or his dignity. Both understood the limitations of being too lusty: you’re in the public eye, you will be caught, you will be embarrassed.
photocredit: the huffington post
Barack Obama uses sex and shine in more measured doses. He might be as calculating with what he let us see as Palin: his shirtless torso, his flirty exchanges with voters, his quiet show of masculinity in interviews when discussing his marriage. The parallels between the Obama and the Clinton marriage are evident (law school, politics, a smart, strong bride, and a charismatic, Democratic beau), but Barack has found a way to make his sex appeal travel through his relationship with Michelle, not around her or in despite of her. Bill gave his appeal to much credit.
photocredit: The Washingtonian
There is a very thin line between selling the goods and becoming one.
Many historians blame current political dramatics, so focused on what things look like, sound like, and “feel” like on Lyndon Baines Johnson. The man that succeeded Kennedy and attempted to bring us the Great Society, was a Washington animal, for sure. His legislative prowess helped push through some of the most ambitious pieces of legislation ever to become law. But his knowledge of how people’s political minds worked is what got us to where we are now. He knew people voted mostly on feelings and prejudices (in the most benign sense of the word), not necessarily on reason or self-interest. He used fear of nuclear destruction, death, and disarray to win over votes. He launched an “image” campaign, something that was not typical back then. He sold himself and sold what his absence would look, sound, and “feel” like. People re-elected LBJ in 1964.
Sex is used in politics in the same effect it is used in advertising: it’s a spice that makes the idea of buying a certain kind of beer or voting for a certain hockey mom much more enticing. It whets your appetite for X thing or person. When the most opportunistic people use it, they make you feel what no longer being able to see said sexified product would be like, and what a heartbreaking injustice that would be. Sex appeal in any industry is used to become wanted. When wanted, people don’t want you to leave their sight.
Politicians like to be liked. Their ego needs to be stroked, no matter what they say about the importance of humility. Some of them probably are humble, but, just to think about it, these people think they are good enough to rule over us. That takes a certain kind of ego, and one that likes to be nurtured every now and then. So when sex appeal becomes one of the weapons in their charisma arsenal, it makes for a very powerful pol. Think of all the good looking or sexy politicians, past and present, you can right now…how many are important or influential? Most of them? Now you see why Palin, Edwards, and Obama like to wink at us: We become smitten, we become enchanted, they become publicly elected officials.
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