The Monkey Cage

The title is “The Case for Cool.” The subtitle in the print magazine (although not on-line) is “What, exactly, is wrong with a celebrity candidate?” So, ostensibly the phenomenon under consideration is “coolness” or “celebrity.” Those two concepts are hardly synonymous, but let’s leave that aside for the moment. Bai’s point is that Obama is cool and McCain is not, and maybe he should try to be. But what’s “cool”? Here is a sampling of Bai:

But in at least one critical aspect, the imagery surrounding each candidate, this year’s contest has been as one-sided as any in recent memory…

…This dynamic represents an unlikely turnabout for both parties. For most of the last three decades, leaving aside the eight-year interregnum of the singularly talented Bill Clinton, Republicans have been the ones to base their campaigns on overarching narratives and imagery rather than on their positions or curricula vitae.

Ronald Reagan and George W. Bush campaigned, with almost irritating buoyancy, on themes of reform, strength and integrity.

Their celebrity grew from a sense of easy confidence, even as they waved away questions about their gravitas…

…Perhaps it’s more that Americans are weary of a political system that has all but ground to a halt, and every four years they search for the galvanizing personality who stands a chance of dislodging it. The infatuation with star quality reflects, on some level, the yearning for the next Roosevelt (Theodore or Franklin) or Kennedy (John or Robert), some reformer with the dynamism and charisma to renew dialogue at home and kinships around the world, to tell us the truths we need to hear without telegraphing defeat…

…If McCain really wanted to blunt the force of Obama’s imagery, maybe he would step onstage at the Republican convention in St. Paul and follow his own reformist instincts, appealing once again to all those Americans who would sooner serve their country than either of its calcified parties. A speech like that might not win the same roars of approval that will no doubt echo through the Denver night. But it would be really, really cool.

From readings these passages, “cool” appears to be any one of a number of things:

• Compelling “imagery.”

• “Overarching narratives.”

• A lack of focus on policy positions or political experience.

• Particular campaign themes, especially “reform.”

• Personality traits like “dynamism” and “charisma.”

• A penchant for telling the truth.

All of these things may be interesting. Or relevant. Or empirically true as contrasts between McCain and Obama. But it’s hard to see what exactly “cool” is. Can you be cool by having good visuals? A good story? The right message? The right personality? Some of the above? All of the above? Bai doesn’t really define the term in any coherent way.

Ultimately, the concept of “coolness” is so diffuse that the argument becomes vaporous. McCain would be “cooler” if he were more like Obama, or Reagan, or Bush, or, well, like McCain of 8 years ago. We don’t really know what it is that Obama et al. have or had, nor do we know what McCain “needs.”