Judging a Book by its Cover

I know this is a little irrelevant now as we’re assuming Obama is our democratic candidate which, if true, is awesome for him but I’d noticed something of interest. I was perusing the political macros site, PunditKitchen, not too long ago and, of course, many of the macros focused on our presidential candidates: McCain who looks older than Grandpa Simpson, Clinton who has a vagina and Obama who is chocolate coloured.

Not surprisingly, Clinton and Obama were the most popular subjects as their now-defunct rivalry raged on. I noticed certain trends among these humourous images, trends that were slightly less subtle than Hillary’s breasts of Obama’s skin but interesting trends nonetheless.

Both candidates have a particular look in these macros and one could easily say that opponents would pick specific types of images to fuel their argument but I believe that there are simply an abundance of photos which show Obama and Clinton in stereotypical roles.

So what roles do I speak of?

In Clinton’s case, she often looks angry or irate, desperate, snobby and indignant. Obviously, much of this was due to her downhill battle, a battle she never expected to have to fight in the first place. Regardless of the reasons, it leaves me with a bad taste in my mouth. It also doesn’t help that she is and looks older than Obama. I cannot blame her age, with it comes (hopefully) experience, wisdom and many good years. I applaud her for not being botoxed to hell (although I suspect there is some work done) and she generally keeps herself neat but there is no hiding the fact that she is no longer a young woman and, on top of these qualities she is broadcasting, this makes a very unflattering portrait, one which makes me dubious of Clinton as a person.

On the other hand, Obama rarely looks these things. If anything, Obama frequently looks happy and sometimes, yes, even silly. The latter is what I think some of those opposed to Obama would see the latter as a weakness to be exploited, but I disagree. To me, it’s comforting to see someone who spends time with his family and doesn’t act as though he’s above everyone else. If Obama sometimes falters, so what? We all do. This simply makes it easier to relate to him as a human, a man like everyone else. I continually have the feeling that Obama could be my neighbour, just another person I could rely on in a time of need, someone to be respected.

Now, one could argue that perhaps Obama is really a good liar, an actor that is worth million in Hollywood. I cannot, without any doubts, argue this. I don’t know. However, I suspect this isn’t the case and that is simply because of the frequency that he is smiling in photos. This man seems genuinely happy with himself and his position in life. Of course, it probably helps that he was winning and felt confident in his campaign, I cannot belittle that, but it seems like that it far from the only factor. Obama gave the impression that he would remain happy whether or not he claimed the candidacy.

I just can’t see someone who appears so content as a liar. Neither could I see someone so indignant as the president. However, as a team, they would be a powerhouse. Still, we’ll have to wait and see on that one.