The Celebratizing of the Presidency

I think we have grown slightly mixed up discerning the difference between movie stars and other media icons with the dignity of the presidency. We can watch TV shows like E News, Access Hollywood, and Entertainment Tonight and their stories about Brad and Angelina. Everyone would agree that the "stalkerazzi" have upped the ante and opened access to the tabloid genre of news and celebrity. What I have great issue with is the recent photos of our next President in his bathing suit on the beach vacationing in Hawaii. He has a right to have a swim and perhaps for the last time will be enjoying a less complicated life.

The recent news paper articles and pictures on the network news announce comments about how "buff" he is, calling him "President Beefcake". They offer a convoluted theory that if President Obama looks fit this will send a message to our rivals that he possesses the necessary gravitas, posturing in some type of intimidating way? Maybe he and Putin should just start exchanging fisticuffs and whoever wins the other country has to back down. That would certainly end many of the world's armed conflicts if the leaders of these countries actually had to physically fight each other.

I think the Office of the President needs to retain it's dignity and that the press should not be allowed to commonize our elected leader the way they do with Hollywood actors and the other public personalities. Yes, our President is a public personality but he deserves our respect regardless of whether we agree with his policies and future agenda. That notion of respect has been sorely tested by the gang who are about to leave office. If our new President has the final decision of whether that button ever has to be pushed I want to feel confident in his ability to weigh and ponder those type of decisions. Being presidential requires the public's perception that he acts presidential. He has a right to swim around in his bathing suit without the world gawking at him and making comments about his tight abs.

Some might maintain that when JFK was president there was a sense of glamor referring to his time in office as Camelot. Well we didn't need to be distracted by that image when we all worried during the Cuban missile crisis. Glamor isn't necessary to perform in the job of being president although some might argue that the mystique is part of the image. We lost that when Monica was doing Bill in the oval office.

In the US we do not have Kings or Queens and the associated pagentry, however the ceremonial aspects of royalty suggests that they are treated as uncommon. If we place our leaders too high on the pedestal there is a far greater fall to the bottom.There is a rarefied presence that suggests a certain distance be upheld and that boundaries are expected and are important.