Take a look around the urban landscape: t-shirts, murals, and posters all boast pop-art odes to Barack Obama. He attracts celebrity followers wherever he goes, and his mere name is enough to catapult nobodies into viral video stardom. The man, or rather The Man, has become a force unto himself, effectively plunging our country into a deep, unmitigated bout of Obamamania. There’s absolutely no denying it. People are fainting in his presence, dreaming in his absence, and generally gushing at all other times. Barack Obama has become the coolest thing ever — the closest thing to a Beltway matinee idol we’ve seen in quite some. So here’s the question: is Obama himself actually cool?

At first glance, the question seems laughable. Of course Obama is cool — he listens to hip-hop, which marks a first for a serious Presidential nominee. Even better, he doesn’t just like any hip-hop. That’s right, Obama likes Jay-Z, widely considered to be one of the best rappers of his generation. That’s pretty cool. Is John McCain listening to the Black Album on his campaign tour bus? Probably not. I can’t even imagine what McCain listens to, but it probably involves twangy guitars and hazy memories of ‘Nam.

Then there’s the whole Obama Girl phenomenon. Usually when a hot, young nymphet surfaces on a campaign trail, it means we’re headed straight to Scandalville. Not with Obama though. When Amber Lee Ettinger assumed the role of Barack’s biggest fan in the “I Got A Crush…On Obama” video, America took notice. Could it be that a real life PYT thought this guy was sexy? Maybe it was true; maybe he was a stud. Suddenly, women were sweatin’ Obama, and guys were praising his game. Cool cat indeed.

However, before we can induct Obama into the Arthur Fonzarelli Hall of Fame, there are some glaring holes in his cool kid persona that must be addressed. Perhaps comedian D.L. Hughely put it best when he said last week, “He does look like the dude from ‘Mad’ magazine…It’s so funny because he ain’t a cool dude to me. He’s like a tall Urkel dude.” The observation rings brutally, if superficially true. Obama is kind of gangly, in that √ºber-dorky way. And once the U-word has been mentioned, it’s hard not to think that perhaps Barack’s been living in the Urkel closet.

Looking back, everything seems to make sense: the ill-fitting shirts, the goofy smiles, and the basketballoutfits.Oh, the basketball oufits. All across YouTube, Obama can be found playing hoops with his ’90s track pants pulled up to his navel and his t-shirt tucked inside. Playing basketball? Cool. Playing ball while dressed like Urkel, minus the suspenders? Not cool.

So what are we to make of this? Is Obama inherently cool? Or is he just an Urkel in the Emperor’s (oddly fitting) Clothes? Maybe the answer is none of the above. I like to think of Obama as something else: post-cool. He’s neither hip nor dorky, and yet he’s both at the same time — a paradox in the nerd-jock continuum that causes us to question the very meaning of the word “cool.” His presence is nearly impossible to explain and only engenders further conundrums. Our minds simply are not built to solve the puzzle that is Obama. We feel nerdy for admitting he’s cool, and cool for saying he’s nerdy. So chances are we should probably stop trying to figure out the situation and just…be cool.

–Ben Mandelker

Photo by EricaJoy