Last week a super PAC supporting the election of Mitt Romney was outed for planning to resurrect fodder around Rev. Jeremiah Wright, the controversial Chicago pastor who became a talking point during the 2008 presidential election, as a means of defeating President Obama. This isn't surprising but the group's salacious manifesto got tongues wagging around Washington, including New York Times [5] columnist Charles M. Blow.
There was one description of the president that truly seized me:
“The metrosexual black Abe Lincoln has emerged as a hyper-partisan, hyper-liberal, elitist politician with more than a bit of the trimmer in him.”
This sentence is just so deliciously ridiculous, insulting and incendiary — perfect Republican fodder.
Let's dissect it, shall we? Scalpel!
First, there is the word metrosexual. It is usually defined as a man keenly interested in grooming and preening. Despite the sexual root, the term isn't rooted in sexuality. In its truest sense, President Obama of mom jeans infamy — as he told the “Today Show” in 2009, “I'm a little frumpy” — is far less metrosexual than Mitt Romney of the perfect hair, copper tan and Gap skinny jeans.
But this term is rarely appropriately applied. On the contrary, it's often delivered with a snicker to question sexuality and feminize the subject, and femininity in a misogynistic culture is the greatest of sins. Metrosexual has become a roundabout homophobic taunt.
Read Charles M. Blow's entire op-ed at the New York Times [5].
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