barack inhales

Tobacco, that is. And it's given him his sexy gravely voice, which makes him a knockout among women, and a god among men. (I refuse to agree that Obama's charisma stems from lighting up; more likely, it's from the fact that he's not Hillary Clinton or any one of those other slick-haired Senators all 'considering' presidential bids.)

Besides, listening to NPR earlier today, I tuned in during the middle of a segment where different politicians announced or sidestepped their presidential ambitions. I thought they were doing a retrospective of past-century political campaigns--the voices of Goldwater, maybe, and Bobby Kennedy--until the voices were identified as Chris Dodd, Obama, and Hillary. To my ear all the voices sounded incredibly unfamiliar; I though of actors from the Casablanca era. So maybe I'm just having hearing trouble, but I thought all of them had a similar level of 'graveliness'.

This is the same type of quality political analysis as the opinion (statistic?) that tall candidates with full heads of hair are more likely to win. Not that I think (being short, balding--and therefore politically cynical) that such analysis is wrong. I'd just like to see it developed a bit: maybe compare our most- and least-aesthetically-pleasing presidents with their 'greatness'. Then we could assemble composite picture of our next ideal president, print out copies to post on every corner telephone pole, and hunt down Mr. Right. Or just co-opt the next American Idol winner.