The Puerile Cool Thing Again
I link to this solely because
it almost seems like a parody:
When Barack Obama appeared on Late Night With Jimmy Fallon the other night, he walked on stage and gave Fallon a quick pound hug,
that handshake/one-arm hug that we cool guys do these days to express a
sentiment something like, "It is good to see you again, my friend; we
know and like each other, but are not so intimate, nor have been apart
so long, that a full two-arm hug is warranted." When I watched it, the
first thought that came into my head was, "Mitt Romney has never done
that with another man in his life." Which is fine, of course—Romney is
65 years old, and the pound hug really only came along only about 10 or
15 years or so ago. And let's face it, even if he was a lot younger,
it's just not his style.
Dang, and here I thought I was being cool by doing the fist bump.
Look, this is really simple. People who are concerned about being cool, aren't cool. Indeed, that's one of the primary lessons of adolescence.
Paul Waldman, who wrote this sophomoric piece, looks (at a glance) to be in his late-30s; greying at the temples. It reminds me of the columnist who wrote (years ago) an article about how he was still legitimately cool because he had a Limp Bizkit CD in his car. Of course, the impression I had was of a guy who drives past the local high school, trying to impress the young chicks by playing LB with the windows down. Hey babes, I'm still cool! How come you don't seem interested in me anymore?
