The Obama Momentum: Smarts, Style Create A New Kind of Power: WWD

Quoted via WWD:

Glamour. Arthur Miller called it “that trans-human aura or power to attract imitation…a kind of vessel into which dreams are poured…the power to rearrange people’s emotions, which in effect, is the power to control one’s environment.”

At noon today, when Barack Obama takes the oath of office as the 44th President of the United States, he assumes the mantle of Leader of the Free World, a double-sided distinction coined (sort of) by John F. Kennedy during the nascent days of the Cold War. But in this particular presidential ascent, “free” is but an option, as one could easily substitute another adjective to suit his or her particular fascination with this most intriguing man. In the United States, Obama is perceived variously as the leader of the informed world, the worldly world, the articulate world, the Internet-savvy world, the self-starter world, the upwardly mobile world, the two-parent home world, the one-parent home world, the no-excuses world, the yes-we-can world. Around the globe, Bush-weary allies consider him the guy to right the ship of a long-wayward friend. Put it all together, and that, by Miller’s definition, is one major trans-human aura, political glamour personified. (President and Mme. Sarkozy, take a step or two off to the right, if you will.) more