You could gauge the seriousness of the deepening global economic crisis by following the plummeting lines on share price charts, or the ever-increasing unemployment rates. Then again, an equally telling indicator might be the changing hair colour of the man who bears the burden of leading the world back to financial health.
Photographic evidence suggests that Barack Obama's salt-and-pepper hair has grown significantly saltier after just 45 days in office, turning rapidly greyer as the president tackles the worst downturn since the Great Depression. And confirmation came this week from a man who should know: the Chicago barber who cut his hair for the last 17 years.
"The grey, it's not a whole lot, but he has a few strands," the surname-less Zariff told the Washington Post, which was, he added, "quite normal for his age group ... I don't think we should worry about it that much. It hasn't affected his basketball game."
At 47, Obama is the fifth-youngest president in American history, and as the Democratic nominee, his youthfulness - in comparison with 72-year-old John McCain - was often a selling-point. But Zariff's appearance in the pages of the Washington Post and New York Times led to speculation that the White House is deliberately pushing the "greying Obama" line to emphasise how hard he is working to rescue the economy.
 |
| This March 5 combination file photo shows headshots of US President Barack Obama from February 12, 2009(L) and September 19, 2008. From the day Obama declared for the US presidency on 10 February, 2007 to the present he has commented on the speed with which his hair is turning grey. AFP |
Zariff says he is still Obama's barber, and has reportedly been flown from Chicago to Washington to cut the president's hair. "He's not going to start giving rogue interviews without permission," the New York gossip blog Gawker noted with an air of significance.
Such machiavellian scheming might not be a surprise from a White House that, it has been suggested, played a crucial behind-the-scenes role this week in escalating an embarrassing conflict between the leadership of the Republican party and Rush Limbaugh, the conservative talk radio host.
Other rumours coursing through Washington and the blogosphere held that Obama had been dyeing his hair darker - or, alternatively, that he had been dyeing it grey, to seem more experienced.
But short-term variations from dark to light and back again have a simpler explanation: the president's hair gets greyer as it grows longer, then looks darker once cut. "I can tell you that his hair is 100% natural," Zariff insisted. "He wouldn't get it coloured."
Presidency has accelerated the ageing process in the past. Bill Clinton entered the White House with plenty of brown hair remaining, but left it with an early version of his current snowy mane. George Bush went grey too, although he claimed the pressures of office weren't to blame. "You think my hair is grey because I'm president?" he asked reporters. "No, my hair is grey because of teenage daughters."
- The Guardian, UK |
E-mail