New Camelot...?

Despite unceasing comparisons to FDR, I find that the Obamas remind me a lot more of the Kennedys than the Roosevelts. It's not that President Obama doesn't have his FDR-ish political traits, he does, but in terms of mainstream, pop culture marketing, I'm forcibly reminded of the Kennedys.

I have to confess, it creeps me out a little to walk through Wal-Mart and see a score of Obama books and memoriabilia staring me in the face. Although I've seen plenty of books about President Bush, I can't recall encountering a commemorative plate sporting his visage while walking through a megastore. Maybe that's just me...?

I think the key to this is 'pop culture'. I know it's not unusual for Franklin Mint-style items to be issued and sold during a presidency - coins, plates, etc. In fact, I imagine there must be an enthusiastic market for them (says the girl who owns enough Woodrow Wilson and FDR goods to sink a small tanker), but I think this kind of mass-marketing issuance is comparitively rare.

When I was a teenager, I was helping my step-dad with something out in our garage and we somehow came upon a JFK coloring book of his, which fascinated me. I couldn't recall ever seeing or owning a Ronald Reagan coloring book, not George H.W. Bush or Bill Clinton, either. What was so special about JFK that he rated a kids' coloring book and Reagan memorbilia extended mostly to the usual Halloween mask, or Christmas ornament, or the occasional trading card? By contrast, Kennedy had a couple sets of trading cards devoted to him, not to mention the faboo coloring book.

There is a popular perception of the Obamas as glamorous and elegant, and I think it's that perception which gives them their pop culture success, a la the Camelot era Kennedys. They're young, well-to-do, hip and stylish: Barack uses Twitter, Michelle was on The View.

This is not to say that the Roosevelts didn't have their own brand of mainstream fame - the public reveled in their private lives as much as the public revels in the private lives of any of today's big stars, but I really think that, for the Obamas, the tone of that public infatuation is closer to the Kennedys.