Opinion: Politics and good looks tend to go hand in hand

Talk about it

Politics, the old saying goes, is show business for ugly people.

That may have been true once, but it seems less credible all the time. As TV and video become more and more important in campaigns, candidates have upgraded their wardrobes and political parties seem more interested in attractive people to run for office.

South Dakota is no different than the rest of the nation and world. Our two main candidates for the U.S. House attracted a bit more attention nationally in part because of their good looks.

It’s not sexist to remark that Kristi Noem and Stephanie Herseth Sandlin are attractive women. Anyone who has had to share a video screen with them, as I did this summer, is well aware of the striking difference between these candidates and an aging journalist or some voters.

Herseth Sandlin and Noem have another advantage. It’s tough to find bad pictures of them to run in the attack ads that pop up during modern elections.

Have their looks helped their careers? It certainly hasn’t hurt.

I have a friend who tells me she bases her votes on how attractive candidates are, which she said may be embarrassing but likely is true of some voters. My ex-wife used to predict races with a glance at the faces of the people running. She was usually right, too.

It’s really not that new, either. Fifty years ago, John F. Kennedy was elected president in an extremely close election, and his handsome visage seems to have been one reason for his win.

As has been often reported, when JFK and Richard Nixon held their first debate, people who watched it on TV said Kennedy won. They were impressed by his cool good looks and easy manner and turned off by the sweaty, shifty-eyed, poorly made-up Nixon, who was recovering from an illness and an injured knee.

But people who listened to the debate on radio said Nixon won it. They were impressed by his deep voice and apparent command of the issues and turned off by Kennedy’s high-pitched voice and strong New England accent.

But far more people watched the debate than merely listened to it, and Kennedy won the election.

One reason Barack Obama was such a compelling candidate two years ago was due to the constant comparisons to JFK. Obama was seen as slender, well-dressed and cool, and that seemed to outweigh his lack of political experience.

The same effect worked for Sarah Palin, who was elevated to the national stage slightly more than a year after she took office as governor of Alaska. While Palin champions the conservative views of her supporters, one primary reason for her success is the fact that people are drawn to her because of her good looks and confident manner.

South Dakota Sen. John Thune is considered a potential president in part because he is seen as “telegenic.” In other words, he’s nice looking, tall and thin.

There are other politicians with much more experience and, perhaps, ability. But if they don’t resemble TV anchors or hot young actors, they face an uphill climb to the White House.

New Massachusetts senator Scott Brown posed nude for Cosmopolitan magazine, which proclaimed him the sexiest man alive in 1982. Almost three decades later, Brown remains a handsome man, and that is credited with helping him become a United States senator this year.

It’s worth noting that perhaps our greatest president, Abraham Lincoln, was called “Ape Lincoln” and denigrated for his lanky, awkward appearance. On the advice of a young girl, he grew a beard after the 1860 election to cover part of his long face before he was sworn in.

Lincoln was, as always, ready for a humorous comment on his appearance while also making a point on his reputation for honesty: “If I were two-faced, would I be wearing this one?”

Warren G. Harding and Franklin Pierce are considered to be two of the best looking presidents of all time. They are also ranked near the bottom for effectiveness.

Politics is no different than the rest of the world. People who are seen as better looking generally make more money and are hired more easily. There are multiple studies that point to the fact that being pretty or handsome is an edge in life.

That’s obviously the case in TV, especially network television, where people who resemble movie stars read the news at us. It’s often written by people who look like the reporters and editors who staff newspapers.

That’s one place where look-ism hasn’t become the ultimate decider. Thank goodness for that.

Tags: tom lawrence, opinion