Jonathan Zimmerman: Obama, Cool in a Crisis
[Jonathan Zimmerman teaches history and education at New York University. He is the author most recently of "Small Wonder: The Little Red Schoolhouse in History and Memory."]
In 1965, historian Arthur M. Schlesinger Jr. published his now-classic tribute to John F. Kennedy. "A Thousand Days" recounted the triumphs and tragedies of Kennedy's brief presidency, but the book was primarily an exploration of his character, which Schlesinger summed up with a single word: cool....
"The Kennedy style was the triumph, hard-bought and well-earned, of a gallant and collected human being over the anguish of life," Schlesinger wrote. "His 'coolness' was itself a new frontier."
I thought of these words as I read the recent attacks on President Obama, who has supposedly displayed a lack of emotion amid the oil-spill disaster in the Gulf of Mexico. Across the political spectrum, pundits are blasting Obama for his coolness in the face of crisis....
I hope they're wrong. By demanding that Obama show his emotions in public, the critics reinforce the very worst parts of our political culture. We can never know what the president is "really" feeling, and — most of all — we shouldn't want to know. So why do we? The answer lies in three broad and mutually reinforcing trends in contemporary American life: confession, celebrity and cynicism. Together, these "3 Cs" threaten to bury our politics in a shallow, superficial gauze. And we should laud President Obama — not lambaste him — for trying to resist them....
I don't know the answers, but they have nothing to do with Obama's emotions. And that brings us back to Kennedy. "Only the unwary could really suppose that his 'coolness' was because he felt too little," Schlesinger wrote. "It was because he felt too much and had to compose himself for an existence filled with disorder and despair."...
Read entire article at LA Times
In 1965, historian Arthur M. Schlesinger Jr. published his now-classic tribute to John F. Kennedy. "A Thousand Days" recounted the triumphs and tragedies of Kennedy's brief presidency, but the book was primarily an exploration of his character, which Schlesinger summed up with a single word: cool....
"The Kennedy style was the triumph, hard-bought and well-earned, of a gallant and collected human being over the anguish of life," Schlesinger wrote. "His 'coolness' was itself a new frontier."
I thought of these words as I read the recent attacks on President Obama, who has supposedly displayed a lack of emotion amid the oil-spill disaster in the Gulf of Mexico. Across the political spectrum, pundits are blasting Obama for his coolness in the face of crisis....
I hope they're wrong. By demanding that Obama show his emotions in public, the critics reinforce the very worst parts of our political culture. We can never know what the president is "really" feeling, and — most of all — we shouldn't want to know. So why do we? The answer lies in three broad and mutually reinforcing trends in contemporary American life: confession, celebrity and cynicism. Together, these "3 Cs" threaten to bury our politics in a shallow, superficial gauze. And we should laud President Obama — not lambaste him — for trying to resist them....
I don't know the answers, but they have nothing to do with Obama's emotions. And that brings us back to Kennedy. "Only the unwary could really suppose that his 'coolness' was because he felt too little," Schlesinger wrote. "It was because he felt too much and had to compose himself for an existence filled with disorder and despair."...