Washington, DC is considered more hip whenever the power balance shifts to the left. I didn't say that - Amy Argetsinger and Roxanne Roberts of the Washington Post's Reliable Source column said it. Wow! WaPo writers acknowledge that the snoberati equate hipness and style with leftist politics.
"Our examination of the evidence suggests that his [Obama's] influence on the city's cool/host metrics may be overstated," the duo report. They then give as evidence a little snapshot of city hotspots, star presence, fashion, and reality TV.
Count me impressed that WaPo writers question the whole "left is hip" zeitgeist. My only quibble here is that the Reliable Source suggests that people in DC no longer wear running shoes with pantyhose to work. Clearly, they are not on my bus or train route.
Anyhow, today's WaPo Style page also, coincidentally, features a column by staff writer and Pulitizer Prize winner Robin Givhan commenting on a prestigious style award bestowed upon Michelle Obama by the Council of Fashion Designers of America.
Part of the ongoing Obama-worship, you may have noticed, is the widespread fawning over the First Lady's sense of style - how it's so "modern" and "accessable." And Givhan herself has penned a number of columns praising Michelle Obama's style. That's actually not surprising, since Givhan has long taken the fashion industry to task for not presenting many models of color in advertising and on the runway and for not presenting many 5'9"-and-taller models who are above garment size 2.
However, I am still not sure what all the fuss is about - is it political rapture or genuine admiration for a woman who adroitly pairs expensive fashion with The Gap? True, Obama looks youthful, vigorous and well-turned out, but I'm not sure she stands out from most previous First Ladies. And she certainly isn't what one might think of as fashion-forward, a la Jacqueline Kennedy.
As Givhan herself acknowledged, Obama appeared "fashion neutral" in her video appearance at the fashion award event. "She wore a plain white shirt and a double strand of pearls." Hardly the sort of thing to have "the fashion industry breathless." Right?
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Don't know if it applies
June 16, 2009 - 11:11 ET by Chris NormanDon't know if it applies here or not, but in high school I always noticed that the cool "popular" crowd was the smallest group. I'd like to see the scene at the end of "Revenge of the Nerds" re-enacted in reality, when all the cowed "un-cool" conservative people form a huge group to face down the "cool" liberal crowd.
The "Mainstream" Media: By liberals. For liberals.
Does Living Forty Years in the Past Make You a Hip Hippie?
June 16, 2009 - 12:49 ET by farstar99I think not.
Most of them are either living in the Sixties or the Russian Revolution.
All of them are living in an alternate reality.
Unfortunately, thanks to the sixty percent of voters who don't pay attention, they now have the power to pull us into their nightmare world with them.
Hip/Cool = flegmatic,
June 16, 2009 - 11:22 ET by EdhenryHip/Cool = flegmatic, unprincipled, insecure, cynical which makes them focus on ephemeral issues like looks, fashion, attitude (as opposed to character) youth and outsized egos leading to prideful & undisciplined behavior.
Uncool = Temperence, character & humility.
I have worked my whole life to become uncool, and still work in progress.
Seamus Is the left more
June 16, 2009 - 11:23 ET by Seamus236Seamus
Is the left more LIP than the rest of us? Sointny!
Cool is a high school
June 16, 2009 - 11:28 ET by taterCool is a high school term...which should be kept in high school.
The real world doesn't really care how popular you think you are.
www.theholyrosary.org
"There is no problem, I tell you, no matter how difficult it is, that we can not resolve by the prayer of the Holy Rosary." -Sister Lucia
not hip
June 16, 2009 - 11:32 ET by forestHero worship is not hip or cool.
Oh puhleeze... This is
June 16, 2009 - 11:37 ET by bigtimerOh puhleeze...
This is ridiculous...all of it....comical actually....and I'm being polite here... for now.
Doubling down on stupid is not a particularly good idea. ~Andrew Breitbart
Being hip
June 16, 2009 - 12:54 ET by KC MulvilleSpeaking as the father of two almost-teenage girls ... I'm about as un-hip as they come. And loving it.
Methinks she doth attest too much ...
June 16, 2009 - 11:42 ET by metaphorsbwithuWhen someone has to start bragging about people and places "being cool" you know they aren't.
metaphorsbwithu
Judging from what I've seen
June 16, 2009 - 11:42 ET by SickofLibsJudging from what I've seen up close n' personal here at NB, my answer would be a resounding YOU GOTTA BE KIDDING.
Anyone who uses the word
June 16, 2009 - 11:47 ET by Another Dead KennedyAnyone who uses the word "hip" after 1985 hasn't been hip since.
How times have changed . . .
June 16, 2009 - 11:57 ET by GalvanicWhen I was but a young lad in the Sixties, hip was an adjective applied to non-conformists. The avant-garde. The folks openly expressing their preference for things far different than the mainstream.
The Left elite may consider its politics hip, but their agenda is all about Big Government setting restrictions for people. For example, it seeks to repress and even criminalize free speech, and that strikes at the very heart of hip.
When the President of the United States is described as hip, it indicates that the original meaning of the word has been lost.
The Left is "Hip" - Also Juvenile
June 16, 2009 - 12:11 ET by MAS1916'Hip' is usually equated with being young. Being young is also equated to being error-prone and immature. Highlighting this is the Obama administration's constant refusal to accept responsibility for anything.
Now that we are reaching the 18 month mark in the current recession ( the average length of a recession is 18 months), things are getting worse particularly in the employment markets. Inflation, although in check for May, is undoubtedly going to increase along with the pace of Stimulus spending. And through it all, Obama blames Bush for failures to turn the economy around.
Team Obama responds to problems by blaming others - a truly young and juvenile operation.
( http://firstconserva... )
The Left is Many Things
June 16, 2009 - 12:20 ET by JustAlFirst and foremost the left is a fashion statement, a mass delusion that reality is controlled by emotion rather than the other way around. Since it is primarily the young and inexperienced who live for fashion statements, and "hip" and "cool" are defined by the young and inexperienced, then yes, the left is more "hip" and "cool."
Most of those who embrace fads outgrow them, the particularly shallow and damaged do not. Hence the reluctance of most adults to call themselves "Liberal," (or "hip" for that matter).
What the left -
June 16, 2009 - 12:34 ET by BDWhat the left - particualrly the denizens of the beltway have never understood is that all "Hipness" is local.
For instance, here in western Cochise County it is considered hip to be wearing a "Combat Action Badge" on ones ACU. Those who cannot boast the ability to wear emphasize wearing combat patches from 1CD, 101st AASLT, 82nd AB etc rather than corps and theater level combat patches.
What is NOT hip is suits, ties, and high fashion. Cargo shorts are hip, hip-hop clothes are not.
Move ten miles to the east in Tombstone and hipness changes to western wear.
Move sixteen miles southeast of there in Bisbee and love beads, shaved heads, etc is all the rage.
On thing that is a constant of all three of those is that NO ONE out here cares what is hip in the beltway of DC. But you will never convince anyone in DC that we do not hang on every move they make.
it's no longer 'cool'
June 16, 2009 - 12:40 ET by larry on LIthe in croud prononces it 'quu-well'.
OK Let's grant that
June 16, 2009 - 12:48 ET by snaggletoothieOK Let's grant that Democrats and lefties are hipper than I'll ever be. Now let them all go to Chicago, LA and San Francisco and let them have their World Series of Hipness. And leave us squares alone.
Hip and cool transcend
June 16, 2009 - 13:16 ET by balboaHip and cool transcend politics. One has nothing to do with the other. And it can be rather subjective. Some people would say Rush is cool, or that Ann is hip, or that Olbie is "with it."
I think Tom Selleck is pretty cool. He's a Republican.
The Left
June 16, 2009 - 13:38 ET by GothampcI have to wonder, if the Left keeps aborting children at the rate they are going, will there be any Left left in two generations to worry about who is hip and who is not?
Hip?
June 16, 2009 - 14:25 ET by KJ_sezHip reminds me of something needing replacement...
I'm not sure if they're
June 16, 2009 - 16:44 ET by gmaniac1I'm not sure if they're hip/cool but the white liberals sure do look like idiots trying to seem that way. It's like "Hey, look at me! I know rap songs from Jayzee as well as the lyrics to every Green Day song."
When the people fear the government it's called tyranny, when the government fears the people it's called liberty!
jessieH
June 17, 2009 - 09:40 ET by jessieHjessieH And this is supposed to be news? What a bunch of hacks.