[blackbirdpie url=”https://twitter.com/BarackObama/status/266031293945503744″]
Within 22 minutes of being posted, President Barack Obama’s “Four More Years” tweet became the most popular tweet in history.
The photo isn’t of the president standing alone at a podium, or even one of himself and his Vice President. The photo shows him locked in a loving embrace with his wife.
What does this tweet, and other photos of the engaged and active dad and husband, say about the changing masculine ideal and what makes a man successful?
I think it looks a little bit like, “Four more years of hugging!”
Which I think we can all support.
There is room for compassion in politics, not just singular glory.
Is it just me, or is “four more years” a pretty ambivalent slogan? Some people are happy about this, others are terribly depressed about this. (I’m in the former group, but I’d be happier with a more dynamic slogan. This is hardly the stuff of motivational rhetoric.)
It says that it is OK for a masculine man to be publicly vulnerable and emotional. A wonderful thing to behold.
I agree. We do need more of this in the media.
Such a photo isn’t going to say much because a man embracing his wife and kids when he makes a big accomplishment isn’t exactly new ground. No in order for Obama to make a statement about modnern masculinity he is going to have to do something fairly ground breaking like say, actually giving a damn about men in some capacity that is more than, “how useful are men when it comes to improving the lot of women?”. And frankly that’s what I want to push for. If he is intersted in saying something about modern masculinity then he can start… Read more »
This photo is representative of their relationship. He chose this to be the photo for his “acceptance tweet”. It shows the partnership and bond between the two. In order for us to move men forward we need to move everyone forward and work to make changes across the board. If we bring sexual assault into the discussion we cant make it about how unfair that is to men. It is an unfair system to everyone. The entire criminal system is seriously flawed when it comes to sexual assault and we as a society make it worse. It is still ‘cool’… Read more »
If we bring sexual assault into the discussion we cant make it about how unfair that is to men. It is an unfair system to everyone. The entire criminal system is seriously flawed when it comes to sexual assault and we as a society make it worse. It’s not a matter of making the discussion about how it is unfair to men. It’s about adding the unfairness towards men to the discussion, which I believe is very much missing from the overall discussion. I agree that we don’t want to just “swing the pendulum to the other side” and go… Read more »
@Paul Hobson: At least where I live, the idea that women can’t and don’t have as much sex and with whom ever they choose isn’t true is simply a fallacy. How many sexual revolutions does one need to feel free. This whole slut shaming paranoia in today’s world, is over the top. Madonna gets more popular every-time she fuuks somebody else’s husband or boyfriend. And there are millions of women out there in the world like her. Are there some men who do this,of course there are. But there are also men who ALLOW their female partners to have outside… Read more »
@Paul Hobson: I don’t know that the president is anti male but I don’t trust him to be male positive either.
I think the distinction here is that he CHOSE (along with his team) THIS photo to post at the biggest moment of the entire year. What does that mean?
Not so much the existence of the photo, or even the popularity, but rather — what does it mean that they chose THIS one? And then it went wildly viral.
I appreciate you trying to get some conversation going but I’m not sure the choice of photo means a lot, much less any implications about modern masculinity. Now if the photo has the effect of saying something about modern masculinity that cool and all. I’m doubting that making a statement about modern masculinity was actually taken into consideration when that photo was chosen. I supposed you could argue that not taking it into consideration in itself could be a statement… And I would wonder if the millions and millions that gave it record making attention do so for the sake… Read more »
@Danny: You are so right in your analysis. For me the president’s obvious desire, along with the Huff-post, to play the” new” male card, falls flat. I don’t find him to be a strong supporter of any significant male positive policies or ideas. All he does is point out how bad we are( never women) and he thinks the answer to male problems , if he even thinks they exist at all, is to man up. It is interesting to me that so many women and men will praise this photo yet ignore how men get screwed by the courts… Read more »
Nothing. Loving your wife has always been part of the masculine ideal.
Yes. And loving your children is also not a new development….
Totally agree Copyleft – absolutely nothing. Loving your wife and being an actively engaged dad has most certainly been part of the masculine ideal. So ironic that many (not all….please don’t say I’m generalizing) of the Obama supporters are sadly missing this part of the ideal. I get it….our Country leans democratic…. Obama, despite the misguided and absent leadership and downright dishonesty at times, has somehow gotten the privilege of keeping his job……Our Country is changing ….more than I even realized…..to a what can you do for me Country instead of a what can you do for your Country…… So… Read more »
I disagree that this changes nothing. Having spoken to quite a few men and done some work with regards to modern masculinity this does change things. While loving your wife and children may seem like it has always been common practice the way that love has been shown has varied. I agree with Micah on this one that being publicly vulnerable and emotional for a man in power is a fairly new thing. There is still the idea with many men that never having laid a hand on your partner is the ideal, yet yelling and screaming is inevitable. It… Read more »
Nothing about praising Obama for the love he shows publicly for his wife and daughters is insulting to other men and I fail to see how that connection was made. It’s not that it’s insulting to other men (and I fail to see how Copyleft’s comment implies any such insult). To me it’s that in the face of him being fairly silent when it comes to directly talking about masculinity and men this one image, as uplifting as it is, is being presented as if it is some grand symbol of a changing masculinity. In his capacity as a role… Read more »
Paul – since I’m the one that said it was insulting to all of the good men that came before him, I will defend my statement. I am clearly not an Obama supporter – this much is obvious in my post – but even I am not saying that praising Obama for displaying love and affection to his wife and children is insulting. In fact, I think this is one thing you can praise him for. What I took issue with is the suggestion that somehow Barack Obama is responsible for leading the charge on this masculine ideal. I just… Read more »