Barack Obama is getting a lot of flack for last Sunday's media blitz. The critique from most parties? The office of the President is one of prestige, and by offering himself too easily to the masses he will desensitize us to his presence, and most of all his message. Said Peggy Noonan on This Week with George Stephanopoulos,"It's boorish, and it makes people not lean towards you but lean away from you."
These are my thoughts EXACTLY when it comes to the oft-mentioned GOOP, a new online venture of Gwyneth Paltrow's with the tag line "Nourish the Inner Aspect". The company's product is a weekly newsletter geared towards easy and healthy ways of eating, exercising, dressing, and traveling, under the categories of "BE, MAKE, GO, GET, DO, SEE".
It's a really cool idea. And no one would care about the recipes, the exercise regimens, the travel tips if Gwyneth wasn't the one dishing them out. Alas, my critique of GOOP is not GOOP itself, but of Gwyneth and her new role in my life (an overly dramatic statement but hear me out).
I used to worship Gwyneth in the ways that we all idolize move stars that we hope to emulate in looks, demeanor, lifestyle, you name it. She lived the dream-life. Part of the attraction was that her lifestyle was essentially non-attainable to little ol' me.
Now that the distance between us is so short, and I read weekly about the realities of how she stays thin, her detox regimen, how much she loves wheat-grass, and her favorite maternity outfits (which, actually would still be way out of my reach financially), I'm sort of getting sick of her? And frankly, the health food things is bordering on obsessive.
I don't want Gwyneth to be the new Oprah, or god-forbid the new Tyra (I think just vomited in my mouth). And she wouldn't, her style is too different, too subtle, which is probably why she's doing her thing online, and not on daytime T.V.
All I'm saying is that, now that I've got her secrets for a life well-lived, I'm less interested in her life. I just want her to be the fairy tale again. And while I'm at it, can someone just rewind the tapes back to "Change has come to America"? The podium has a way of giving me goosebumps that the chair next to David Letterman can't.
