Male Icons: Barack Obama.

He is possibly the embodiment of how a modern man should be. Leaving aside the difficulties he has experienced lately, he is the personification of the alpha male. He is portrayed as an attractive, magnetic, open minded, fluent and brilliant man; the innate leader. His meteoric career of course contributes to this image he has in society, but not as much as the comparisons that could be established between him and George W. Bush. The latter has fallen completely of flavor, portrayed as an incompetent and arrogant man. Obama has stood up as the cool man, the one who is in control of himself and of his surroundings without using any display of war. He has taken the role of a conciliating man, especially in his efforts to change U.S. foreign policy. This is an extremely important trait of what he represents as a masculine image. Is an extremely important feature of the new masculinity: The capacity to balance and mediate.

Obama is also a family father, a devout husband, and athletic person… the list could go on. He is a symbol of admiration. It is interesting to notice that a politically liberal man has been chosen to represent the prototype of the modern man. It implies that also the modern man should align himself with progressive ideals, or at least, keep himself up with an always changing world.

Obama represents the man that manages to balance out all the aspects of his life and comes out successful out of it, while contributing to his world.