NYT’s David Brooks — who so lovingly admired then Sen. Barack Obama’s pant leg —still has a mancrush on the president, as if we would think otherwise. Appearing in today’s N&R, Brooks writes:
Normally, presidents look weak during periods of economic stagnation, overwhelmed by events. But Obama has displayed a kind of ESPN masculinity: postfeminist in his values, but also thoroughly traditional in style — hypercompetitive, restrained, not given to self-doubt, rarely self-indulgent. Administrations are undone by scandal and moments when they look pathetic, but this administration, guarded in all things, has rarely had those moments.
..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.
Just like the president really stepped up to the plate as North Carolina was going at it over Amendment One. Give me a break.
