- Obama's Physique
- February 2009
On January 20th Barack Obama became the 44th US president. In this article we will not be looking at the historic event that saw the first black president enter the White House. Nor will we discuss the dire economical crises that he and other world leaders are trying to alleviate. Instead, we will look at the growing media obsession with Obama's physique.
The media attention began before the inauguration when pictures of his Hawaii holiday were made public. In a matter of hours the pictures circled the globe, accompanied by countless 'Fit President' and 'Fit for Office' headlines. The CNN anchor reported that his party clad holiday pictures were 'everywhere'. This naturally included the web, where the sheer number resulted in the label 'web frenzy'.
The Telegraph stated 'Obama 'has altered our view of what a middle-aged man can look like. We are used to political leaders playing the fitness card, but, as the photographs taken during his holiday in Hawaii just before Christmas show, Obama is in a different league to the tennis-playing Tony Blair, and he makes Vladimir Putin's bare-chested fishing shots look embarrassing'. It went on to add 'how many (middle aged men) will now look enviously at pictures of the toned, muscular 47-year-old leader the western world, and say not "I want his power", but "How can I look like that?"
Noting the media interest Obama told Men's Health. "The main reason I do it is to clear my head and relieve me of stress. My blood pressure is pretty low and I tend to be a healthy eater. Most of my workouts have to come before my day starts. There's always a trade-off between sleep and working out. Usually I get in about 45 minutes, six days a week. I'll lift [weights] one day, do cardio the next. I wish I was getting a 90-minute workout."
ABCNews interviewed William Nelson, assistant manager the Philadelphia Sports Club where Obama played basketball and reported him saying "I didn't see an ounce of fat on him. He's lean and he looked like he's in great shape."
The New York Post described him as 'an extremely hard-bodied 44th president of the United States' ... with 'toned pecs and abs'.
The Sun reported Ratey (the associate professor of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School in Boston) comment that "Obama isn't in it for the beefcake ......he realizes the mind/body connection and the importance of fitness in helping retain balance, rhythm, calmness and energy".
In last weeks Irish Times proclaimed 'Credit where it is due: the man is a miracle. His official age is 47. But he conducts himself with the maturity, poise and intellectual rigour of a 57-year-old, he looks like a 37-year-old, has the street credibility of a 27-year-old and the energy and optimism of a 17-year-old.
Most men of 47 wish they were 37, feel and move like they are 57, can’t really remember being 27 and behave and dress like they are about to turn 17. Most 47-year-old men are in crisis and who the hell can blame them.
But Mr Obama carries off the trickiest of ages effortlessly, not showing the slightest bit of sympathy for the millions of “ordinary” brothers who share with him the demographic of being born in 1961'.
With such stratospheric expectations (that the media and public have placed on Obama), is it fair or realistic to expect him to live up to them all? Sadly, we are not just talking about politics.