Even before she arrived in a swirl of speculation, it was in the hermes bag. Literally. Hina Rabbani Khar came, saw, flaunted her Birkin, and conquered. For the media, it was more about style than substance. Her Hermes handbags, what it costs, her Cavalli glares, the South Sea pearls and her outfit was a greater focus of attention than what she personally brought to the India-Pakistan table. All this media coverage begs the question — do glamour and good looks enhance a politician’s career or are they a hindrance? In a celebrity-obsessed age, does the paparazzi-type focus on certain individuals only end up hiding their flaws?
The most immediate answer to that has to come from President Barack Obama. We were all dazzled by the man when he first hit the world stage — young, good-looking, charismatic, and Harvard Law School to boot. It made it easy to imagine that he would dissolve differences, abolish hard choices, and save the world. Glamorous leaders tend to be put on a higher pedestal, as if looks, style and charisma are a substitute for ability and intellectual prowess. The general attitude to such leaders at the start of their careers is a judgment based on distance and mystery, because glamour is always an illusion. Not surprisingly, then, as the healthcare debate in America intensified, Obama’s own aura and ratings have diminished. Eventually you have to break the spell.
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