Lucia

de Vernai

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December 31, 2008

Spotlight Loved Candidate Obama; Now He Gets to Live With It

Pretty people with good posture, enviable wardrobes and People magazine cover-worthy offspring should not be surprised that photographers follow their every move, crouching in the bushes for hours to get a right exposure on that toothy smile.

President-elect Obama and his family should know that by now. There is a shred of empathy left for Hollywood’s microabrasion-worn mothers of seven (or is it eight this week?) just trying to keep the cheese puff consumption under control between award shows. But if you run for (very) public office capitalizing on the tabloid-quality charisma, please don’t complain about the resulting exposure before you even get into office.

Now that we finally have a leader with defined abs and no qualms about showing them off, hell yes, we’re going to want to look. This is America. We’re voyeurs, and the Obama family has reaped much success from the photo ops that Angelina and Brad wouldn’t turn down. Can you think of any other first couples that makes you say, “Awww” instead of “Ew”? The McCains are sweet together, but it’s more of an “Aww, look, grandpa still has it going on!”

While vacationing in Hawaii with his family, Obama acted annoyed at the hoards of photographers documenting his moderate golf skills. With no public schedule and mostly private meals, Obama has avoided shameless acts of milking recent publicity. He’ll get plenty more.   

The Palin family just welcomed – with great excitement – Bristol’s first son, Tripp. Sarah is beaming, People magazine has reported. What’s not to be thrilled about? Your unwed teenager giving birth right after the baby’s other grandma was arrested on drug-related charges? No, my bet is on the $300,000 that the baby’s pictures are reported to have been sold for.

The Russians who can see the Palins from their house confirmed that reality show talks are under way.

It’s easy to get used to the limelight, and once it moves on, its hard to get it back. Sometimes you have to increase your blood pressure medication and really put yourself out there. Besides, comebacks are big these days. If Monica Lewinsky can bounce back and become a purse designer, don’t be surprised if Ron Paul starts pushing limited edition gold on late night TV.

Sarah Palin can always follow in the footsteps of Paris Hilton who trademarked “That’s hot!” and turn “Team of Mavericks,” “You betcha,” and “Palling around with terrorists” into something more than an embarrassment for the Alaskan schooling system.

Previously the king of charismatic spin, Bill Clinton needs to sit down in his well-funded library and review his public relations notes. Denying that he said Obama “pulled the race card on me” would have gone over a lot better if it didn’t happen on the radio. That’s the kind of publicity you don’t want, especially since you don’t have a cute kid to distract from your faux pas.

While the inauguration is bound to be a media frenzy, in the long run, Obama has nothing to worry about. At any given moment, somewhere out there is an ambitious young community organizer and hockey mom who can’t wait to make their lives a circus for a public servant’s pay.   

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