Barack used to regularly dye his hair. Gray would pop up occasionally, and disappear soon after.
If you've seen him speak recently, you can tell that he's badly in need of rest. The man is TIRED as HELL. If he doesn't have time to take a nap, I'm sure he doesn't have time to get his hair done.
Every President ages. The job's ... a little stressful, you know? Even avoiding its responsibilities can be stressful -- GWB, even, went from fratboy to overgrown fratboy.
So if you're the President hired to clean up his mess, the job's going to be twice as difficult, so you'll age twice as fast.
I don't care what Barbie says -- math's not that hard.
Elections really age people. A few weeks ago in one of my polisci classes we were watching some advertisements from the 2000 presidential primaries. Wow, W and McCain look so young. I met Howard Dean at a Heathcare For America Now rally this summer, and he looked so much better then when he was running.
Somehow, I'm guessing the pictures are also notably different--that's he's "aged" rapidly between the two--due to differences in lighting and make-up, in addition to the effects of having a stressful job and the stupid trick of comparing smiling/frowning photos.
When is the sick obsession this society has with youth (or a youthful appearance) going to end? "
Never. And I highly doubt it's just American or even Western culture or society. He's a candidate who started out (in part) as an object of lust---it's easy to draw attention to the fact that he's actually human.
I wish it would end, too, because I am constantly feeling "less than"...there's always some way for mere mortals (and specifically women) to fall short. As far as sexual attraction, it seems that the ideal woman is somewhere between...I dunno--14 and 26 (26 is reaching, huh?), maybe 27.
When you're in your teens, you have the benefit of youth, but you're not conventionally pretty, so what's the use?
You get older, and though you know yourself better, not only are you still only averagely attractive (even if you've grown into/come to accept or even like features that bothered you at 16)....you're competing with women who are younger (thinner, perter T and A, less wrinkled, whatever) than you for the same damn pool of men, the same jobs (employers), the same audience. I guess the penalties of aging and competing for jobs with younger guys can affect men too, yes?
It will never end, so long as we are a species that reacts to, judges, and compares visual stimuli, so long as we get our information through anything that depends on seeing an actor, candidate's, public figure's appearance, so long as youth is associated with a person in their prime in terms of physical appearance, energy, and the capacity to try new things/start anew.
Anything that affects physical appearance or presumably affects someone's physical/cognitive prowess will be a subject of discussion. All we can hope is that people will put it in perspective, even when assholes publish pieces like this. Of COURSE someone can write a piece about the president aging (especially one who STILL is somewhat youthful-looking, is relatively handsome and spry, and younger than alot of his predecessors were when they landed the presidency). It's a no-brainer, because aging is inevitable. It's a ready-made subject for commentary.
That is a piece written to fill up space and meet a deadline....be grateful it's only in a semi-local tabloid like the NY Daily News. (Though I wouldn't be surprised to see this shit on Fox....I forget who was responsible, but a bigger MSM news source did a similar piece noting Bush's aging, comparing how he looked during the campaign, and then his appearance TWO YEARS after entering the White House.)
Also, I second everyone who notes another dirty trick--he's frowning in the second picture. WTF? That's an expression that "ages" anyone, immediately. Slow news day indeed.
I think it's a bit misleading to have the "younger" version of him smiling and the "older" one of him frowning. If one really thinks he looks like he has aged a lot, show me two pictures of him with the same facial expression for a fair comparison, otherwise I call shananigans.
Also, there must be something more important to spend our time on than how the president looks. And this is not a new concept that presidents age rapidly once in office as compared to before they were president.
Dear NY Daily News: Using a smile for the "before" picture and a frown for the "after" is just an inversion of the EXACT SAME #1 MOST OBVIOUS TRICK used by magazines in their "makeover" features, diet drug ads, and everyone else who wants to show some sort of drastic change in a short period of time. Ooh, look how much HAPPIER and PRETTIER the model looks once she's had a new haircut/been given a change of clothes/spent three months on HydroxyCut. It's a major change in her appearance, totally unrelated to the fact that she's frowning in the "before" shot and smiling like crazy in the "after"!!
EVERYONE LOOKS BETTER WHEN THEY SMILE, OK. WE ALL KNOW THIS. STOP ACTING LIKE WE'RE IDIOTS.
Fact: Kenyans age faster than Americans.
Fact: Keeping secrets about your TRUE RELIGION ages you.
Fact: Karl Marx lived to be 64, Adolf Hitler lived to be 56, BOTH multiples of what? That's right EIGHT. And what age is Barack Obama right now? 48! AND WHAT IS THAT DIVISIBLE BY? This is clearly the year that Obama's fascist marxist communism is reaching the height of its power, and he is morphing into KADOLF MARXLER. Obviously. I mean, it's just MATH.
@Dodgergirl: Obviously in eight years, when his presidency is up, he'll turn into Hitler and make the country a dictatorship. After eight more years, his dream of a communist world power will be realized. Come on people, the Nazis were the National SOCIALISTS. You can't argue with history!
@Sev: As a matter of fact... It all started when i noticed those "08ama" signs last year. I thought, you know, what's THAT about? Why 8? Well, that's when I started to put together the signs.
@lastsinglestanding: Did you find that in Obama's Sooper Seekrit Diary--the one where he also keeps the original copy of his Birth Certificate as well as his secret Muslin swatches? More! More! More!
I heard, ages ago, that he was going to stop dying his hair because he thought he would look more respectable with greys. I don't know where I heard this... I might have made it up... but... yeah.
Besides which I don't think he looks that different? I almost think he looks better in the second photo. But then I like grumpy men.
11/20/09
If you've seen him speak recently, you can tell that he's badly in need of rest. The man is TIRED as HELL. If he doesn't have time to take a nap, I'm sure he doesn't have time to get his hair done.
11/19/09
So if you're the President hired to clean up his mess, the job's going to be twice as difficult, so you'll age twice as fast.
I don't care what Barbie says -- math's not that hard.
11/19/09
11/19/09
11/19/09
11/19/09
11/19/09
11/19/09
Never. And I highly doubt it's just American or even Western culture or society. He's a candidate who started out (in part) as an object of lust---it's easy to draw attention to the fact that he's actually human.
I wish it would end, too, because I am constantly feeling "less than"...there's always some way for mere mortals (and specifically women) to fall short. As far as sexual attraction, it seems that the ideal woman is somewhere between...I dunno--14 and 26 (26 is reaching, huh?), maybe 27.
When you're in your teens, you have the benefit of youth, but you're not conventionally pretty, so what's the use?
You get older, and though you know yourself better, not only are you still only averagely attractive (even if you've grown into/come to accept or even like features that bothered you at 16)....you're competing with women who are younger (thinner, perter T and A, less wrinkled, whatever) than you for the same damn pool of men, the same jobs (employers), the same audience. I guess the penalties of aging and competing for jobs with younger guys can affect men too, yes?
It will never end, so long as we are a species that reacts to, judges, and compares visual stimuli, so long as we get our information through anything that depends on seeing an actor, candidate's, public figure's appearance, so long as youth is associated with a person in their prime in terms of physical appearance, energy, and the capacity to try new things/start anew.
Anything that affects physical appearance or presumably affects someone's physical/cognitive prowess will be a subject of discussion. All we can hope is that people will put it in perspective, even when assholes publish pieces like this. Of COURSE someone can write a piece about the president aging (especially one who STILL is somewhat youthful-looking, is relatively handsome and spry, and younger than alot of his predecessors were when they landed the presidency). It's a no-brainer, because aging is inevitable. It's a ready-made subject for commentary.
That is a piece written to fill up space and meet a deadline....be grateful it's only in a semi-local tabloid like the NY Daily News. (Though I wouldn't be surprised to see this shit on Fox....I forget who was responsible, but a bigger MSM news source did a similar piece noting Bush's aging, comparing how he looked during the campaign, and then his appearance TWO YEARS after entering the White House.)
Also, I second everyone who notes another dirty trick--he's frowning in the second picture. WTF? That's an expression that "ages" anyone, immediately. Slow news day indeed.
11/19/09
Also, there must be something more important to spend our time on than how the president looks. And this is not a new concept that presidents age rapidly once in office as compared to before they were president.
Ok, sorry for my rant.
11/19/09
EVERYONE LOOKS BETTER WHEN THEY SMILE, OK. WE ALL KNOW THIS. STOP ACTING LIKE WE'RE IDIOTS.
Nice try though.
11/19/09
11/19/09
11/19/09
I call shenanigans!!
11/19/09
Fact: Keeping secrets about your TRUE RELIGION ages you.
Fact: Karl Marx lived to be 64, Adolf Hitler lived to be 56, BOTH multiples of what? That's right EIGHT. And what age is Barack Obama right now? 48! AND WHAT IS THAT DIVISIBLE BY? This is clearly the year that Obama's fascist marxist communism is reaching the height of its power, and he is morphing into KADOLF MARXLER. Obviously. I mean, it's just MATH.
11/19/09
11/19/09
11/19/09
11/19/09
11/19/09
11/19/09
11/19/09
@Sev: As a matter of fact... It all started when i noticed those "08ama" signs last year. I thought, you know, what's THAT about? Why 8? Well, that's when I started to put together the signs.
11/19/09
11/19/09
If I were the POTUS I would probably age 40 years in the first week.
But, hey, at least they're talking about a dude for once!
11/19/09
Oh wait! That's what you had previously voted, my bad.
11/19/09
11/19/09
11/19/09
11/19/09
Besides which I don't think he looks that different? I almost think he looks better in the second photo. But then I like grumpy men.
11/19/09
11/19/09
1. Try to avoid stressful situations... like being the president of the United States.
2. See number 1.
11/19/09