At least two vaguely sexual anecdotes about the rise of Barack Obama from Senator to two-term President of the United States have achieved legendary status: one, or course, is David Brooks’ vision of Obama’s victory on close observation of his “perfectly creased pant,” and the other is Chris Matthews admitting how covering the young candidate sent a “thrill up his leg.” (Fair warning: he doesn’t like to talk about that now.)
That was then; this is now. While Obama had no problem winning the youth vote with his promise of hope and change, Hillary Clinton’s struggle to win over millennials has been pretty well documented. Actress Molly Ephraim of ABC’s “Last Man Standing” and a couple of “Paranormal Activity” installments posits that Clinton’s choice of vice president could give her a boost with the generation that coined the term “dad bod,” and not as an insult.
https://twitter.com/MollyEphraim/status/756671910822481921
And an F from the NRA!
— Frank Aiello (@faesq3639) July 23, 2016
Sure, we were sold on the Planned Parenthood rating alone, but throw in Kaine’s pasty white dad bod, and what young voter could resist? Plus, he’s normcore. We’re so old we thought that meant he had the abdominal muscles of Norm from “Cheers,” but the New York Times Magazine clued us in to the hip anti-fashion trend marked by “ardently ordinary clothes. Mall clothes. Blank clothes. The kind of dad-brand non-style you might have once associated with Jerry Seinfeld.”
“Dad-brand non-style?” Is it getting hot in here, or is it just anthropogenic climate change?
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Wait you like dadbod??
— Chris Robertson (@Alaskacjrob) July 23, 2016
To be fair, she doesn’t say, but millennials are into it, or were. If you’re still confused, the whole dad bod phenomenon sparked by shirtless appearances by Seth Rogen and Leonardo DiCaprio was (of course) agonizingly Voxsplained last year.
Dad bod: what is it, and why is everyone suddenly talking about it? http://t.co/oI0vvEsNxo
— Vox (@voxdotcom) June 21, 2015
Seth Rogen rocking the rad dad bod pic.twitter.com/HE8adduZEQ
— kombucha on tap (@cryinginthebath) August 23, 2015
That look is so Summer 2015 … will it sway the election in Fall 2016?
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