President Obama's Pink Bracelet

Obama's pink bracelet

(Image credit: The New York Times)

I noticed during the other night’s debate that President Obama is wearing a pink bracelet in support of Breast Cancer Awareness Month. This is a welcomed embrace of a worthy cause, no doubt. But after Romney’s “binders full of women” in the last debate and both candidates’ rather transparent desire for female votes, I couldn’t help but wonder whether or not President Obama is actually this interested in this particular disease. The alternative would be that his wearing of the bracelet is a cynical gesture designed to cobble up some more votes. Moreover, if this were a cynical gesture on Obama’s part, what might this confirm about the ongoing political conversation in the United States? After a term in which Obama frequently supported women’s health concerns, his wearing of a bracelet is really what it takes to attract female voters? With these questions in mind, I did a little Wikipediaing a was instantly reminded that Obama’s mother died of ovarian and uterine cancer – facts I then recalled from my reading of his two books. I now felt like a jerk for my own cynicism. It was soon clear to me how much my own cynical reasoning was a product of the media-dominated culture in which I live. But what’s the alternative? Wouldn’t seeing the bracelet and not thinking twice be like watching all those negative TV ads and accepting them at face value?

Clinton's bracelet

(Image credit: stylebistro.com)

President Bill Clinton is the only other recent president that I’m aware of who wears a bracelet. (Despite what the previous sentence might suggest, I’m really don’t keep track of presidential jewelry – I merely Googled “presidential bracelets” and Clinton is the only other of the 44 who came up.) According to an interview with CNN’s Anderson Cooper, Clinton received the bracelet from a group of Columbian children who sing for peace against narotraffickers. The interview was conducted in 2009, and in it President Clinton says he’d been wearing the bracelet for seven years, or since 2002. So this is all since he left the White House. Thus, although it’s hard to know how Clinton met the children or the circumstances of their gift, it’s quite hard to be cynical about this Columbian bracelet. There’s absolutely no way Clinton’s wearing this thing for political advantage. Of course, someone could counter that “President Clinton’s only wearing this bracelet to project the humanitarian side of his foundation,” but the issue is of the sort that I’m not sure many people would care to argue about.

So congratulations to President Obama and his support of breast cancer. While there’s no sense in questioning his decision to wear a pink bracelet, the only alternative here is to adopt a certain naïvety about the circumstances behind his decisions. Quite the binary. I’d like to say I’m not cynical, but I’m afraid I might be too enmeshed in today’s media culture for my own good. Maybe President Obama is a model for productive naïvety? The other night’s debate featured a lot of talk about which candidate was “tougher” – at least one of them was man enough to don some pink in support of breast cancer research.

Comments

"Despite what the previous

"Despite what the previous sentence might suggest, I’m really don’t keep track of presidential jewelry – I merely Googled “presidential bracelets” and Clinton is the only other of the 44 who came up."

So...exactly how long do you think these bracelets have been around for anyways?



 "
There’s absolutely no way Clinton’s wearing this thing for political advantage."

Definitely not. I mean, it isn't like his wife is involved in politics or anything...


 "So congratulations to President Obama and his support of breast cancer."

 I'm not following... How is supporting breast cancer a good thing? I thought breast cancer was something people wanted to avoid...


"I’m afraid I might be too enmeshed in today’s media culture for my own good."

I definitely agree with you there! 

"don some pink in support of breast cancer research"

Yes, because if enough people on this planet choose to wear pink, cancer will suddenly cdease to exists. What a brilliant idea! Maybe we should all wear pink, and then cancer will just 'go away!' I get it! Pink must vibrate at a really interesting frequency... 


"Maybe President Obama is a model for productive naïvety?"

Maybe...try to read your above quotes as if someone else had written them. I'm just a random guy stopping by, and don't plan to ever come back here, but do hope to at least show you how you are sounding to other people. Please learn and grow from it as much as you can, because that would make me really happy. Cheers.

Recent comments