#12 Blacks and Swagger, Obama too

In the first place, what is swagger? Objectively, swagger is a calculated display, and waste, of resources designed to communicate supremacy either to the competition or an object of desire. Rich guys, like billionaire Larry Ellison (Oracle), throw away money in plain sight, so that everyone knows that there is more where that came from. Ladies look like the display windows at Neiman’s, while they are buying groceries. Athletes strut to show muscle strength and readiness even when no threat or competition exist.

Different ethnicities have their versions of swagger. White guys wear their hair a certain way, Black guys do the same. But swagger starts at puberty and, I have just found, is best observed at co-ed high school track meets (including my son) where the young swaggees are wearing skimpy uniforms and embroiled in physical competition. These meets are a veritable gold mine of unadulterated swagger, White to Black, male to female, freshman to senior.

All colors of the boys have the basic swagger of walking on their toes (metatarsals), to show off their instant readiness to ‘Usain Bolt’ to some finish line into the first place spot light. The top tier girls wear tight everything, letting nature show itself off. More pronounced toe-walking and tight clothes equals speed, if you check the results. The kids add to this flair by wearing their accessories in the manner of professionals, Nike preferred.

There’s more swagger in the glamor events, the sprints. I suppose this is because running speed is the most basic of all competition. You run to get what you want, and away from that which wants you (for a meal). The boys have fancy haircuts and sunglasses, the girls get the fingernails and hair looking like they are headed to the club after the meet. The 3000m winner, a White kid, had a bit of well-earned swagger, but I think he has already seen too many swagger-less Kenyans, so he was dialing it back.

Finally, no swagger discussion is complete without recognizing Obama’s swagger. He walks like those kids. He is on his toes, like he is ready to bolt at a moment’s notice, toward or away from a threat - I’m not sure. I can’t think of an earlier POTUS, except Jack Kennedy, who had this particular physical manner of communicating readiness. BusinessWeek claimed (last week) that Wall Street is liking O-man, despite concerns, so he's still in the race even with the 'help' of FOX NEWS.

I’m not sure if it is racist to expect this from him, or to like it, or, god forbid, to have been jazzed by it at vote time. Is primal influence legitimate in this complex world? Perhaps, but it exist nonetheless.

Check out Swagger360.

James C. Collier

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