A Short History Of Barack Obama’s Moustache
IS that a moustache of power on Barack Obama’s top lip? In Egypt, Obama sported some facial hair.
In 2007, Anorak wrote:
The last time a bald politician was elected to Number 10 was Winston Churchill in 1951 – and he was up against the equally receded Clement Attlee. One other thing to note is that none of the Presidential hopefuls sports facial hair.
Might it be time one of them did? You know, to strand out from the crowd…
And lo it came to pass that Obama did grow a moustache.
Can Obama make the moustache popular again?
In Britain today, the only acceptable moustache today is an ironic moustache, perhaps grown for charity – in ‘Movember’ – or for a bet. Royal Marines serving in Afghanistan’s Helmand province marked last Christmas with a competition for the Best Moustache.
Nothing To Hide
Money is a factor in dictating tastes. David Beckham, for example, was sponsored by Gillette for several years – he couldn’t be seen with a moustache. The trend for clean-shaven stars continues: Tiger Woods, Thierry Henry and Roger Federer – three of the most successful and influential sportsmen on the planet – have all received a healthy financial boost from Gillette. It’s the best a man can get; having a moustache, therefore, is the opposite of the best a man can get. It’s man at his worst.
The moustache is sinister.
Austrian cellar monster Josef Fritzl belongs to a line of inadequate power-crazed males who spewed forth evil while being too frightened to put a razor above their top lip. Think Hitler – who saw himself as clean shaven – Joe Stalin and Saddam Hussein.
If you want to see how emasculated the tyrants look sans ‘tache, look at our gallery.
Among those to sacrifice their facial hair to the demands of the image mongers are Peter, now Lord, Mandelson who throughout the 1980s sported a moustache. But when Mandelson entered the Commons, it had to go. One of Mr Ainsworth’s predecessors as defence secretary, Geoff Hoon, also shaved off his moustache by the time he was pictured at the cabinet table. Arch Blairite Stephen Byers once sported the world-beating combination of moustache and glasses – but when he was called to the frontbench one of them had to go. No prizes of guessing which.
But things are changing. And over in Blighty, the moustache is making a comeback.
Take a bow Labour MP Bob Ainsworth. For the new defence secretary is the first Labour cabinet minister in about 40 years to sport a moustache.
Over in the Middle East, the moustache holds an eerie power:
Hamas has resumed its policy of shaving mustaches of political opponents to humiliate them.
If, as we are told so often by the fashion industry, everything goes in cycles, then the moustache is overdue a comeback.
And it’s coming back as soup strainer on Obama’s lip…
Posted: 15th, June 2009 | In: Politicians Comments (3) | TrackBack | Permalink
