Barack and Michelle Obama are setting lifestyle standards most Americans could only dream of, but there’s no shortage of publications urging us to dream.
Under the heading “Celebrity Food,” People magazine published an online list of some of the fabulous eateries where Barack and Michelle have recently been spotted. The article was titled “The Obamas Still Have Fantastic Taste in Restaurants.” And if that weren’t enough praise for their culinary savoir-faire, there was this drooling sub-headline: “The former president and his family continue to dine at the world’s coolest—and most delicious—restaurants.” Good luck getting reservations.
Not only can one dine like the Obamas, one can travel like them as well. Travel+Leisure featured “the luxurious estate where Barack and Michelle Obama vacationed” when recently in Italy. The Tuscan mansion where they stayed features “a 60-foot pool, tennis and bocce courts, and a fully-equipped gym with sauna and steam room, along with a basketball court.” In bold type, Travel+Leisure raves of the estate: “You can rent it too, but it will cost you.”
And while in Italy, don’t forget to dutifully emulate Barack’s tailoring. The New York Times shows us how with an early June article, “In High Style, Obama Returns to the World Stage.” While in Milan, he wore “a slim dark suit over a white dress shirt with two buttons left open.” Two buttons! Social media went into a frenzy, “so effortlessly and ineffably cool did he appear.” It wasn’t quite Italian style, as “most Milanese men are too hidebound to be seen wearing open-necked shirts,” but “Mr. Obama seized on an element of European style—sprezzatura, the art of studied carelessness,” to achieve a “fusion style” that the Times describes as “the full-international.” To get the look, don’t forget, it’s two buttons, not one.
In part, all of this urging to copy the Obamas’ food, drink, resort, and clothing choices is just the commonplace stuff of modern celebrity. But The Scrapbook wonders if there’s not also something strangely monarchical about it. Mr. Obama is being treated not unlike the prince in Regency England—someone with not very much to do, but whose style of doing nothing-very-much is closely followed and copied.
So far, this is being done in an informal way. But perhaps it’s time for an official seal of Obama approval, a mark that verifies a product or service has been used by the former president or his family. It could be America’s first royal warrant.
