Is Gavin Newsom TOO good looking?

Cliche: "Washington is Hollywood for ugly people."

   

But what if the person isn't ugly?

I ask the question in all seriousness: Is Gavin Newsom too Hollywood-handsome to be a candidate for president?

Gavin Newsom, Governor of California, moved from a regional figure to a national one. 

He soundly defeated the recall campaign against him and he received two priceless gifts. One was that Larry Elder, a right wing, Trump-supporting, talk radio provocateur was the alternative candidate. That meant that for a wide swath of Americans, the choice was between Newsom and disaster. Elder was attempting to be a famous social media influencer, so the more extreme and controversial he sounded, the better--a perfect foil for Newsom. The other gift was Trump, who said the election would be rigged. People remotely open to Newsom are sick and tired of hearing Trump on anything, especially that. Newsom was not a Democratic hero on the national stage until Trump attacked him--and Trump came through for him.

Newsom is positioned as a very plausible alternative to Kamala Harris for a 2024 run for the presidency.  As a California governor he is fully "qualified" for the office, and as an outsider to Washington, his story is not complicated by the inside-baseball business of D.C. For better or worse, his is the "California" story, a place with a robust economy built on future-oriented industries. Some will love it, some will fear it. Fate handed Newsom an opportunity. He could be the "press reset" Democrat, who would start a new chapter for Democrats. 

There is also the personal brand, the way he looks and talks. Politicians rise or fall on that first-glance impression they give off. Too many people thought Elizabeth Warren seemed like a lecturing schoolteacher for her to succeed. Biden gives off enough signals of age and frailty that he is continually hounded by accusations of senility. Politicians have a vibe.

I look at Gavin Newsom and have an immediate flash of distaste. He looks like an actor, not a politician. He is too tall, too good looking, too well groomed, too photogenic. He comes across to me as looking like the smug, over-confident rich guy in the Columbo series, the character who thinks he can get away with murder but who under-estimates Detective Columbo. Or, in the formulaic romantic comedy dramas on the Hallmark channel, he looks like the guy who does not get the girl because he is so self-absorbed. He is the one who gets dumped in favor of the wholesome nice guy from her home town.

I recognize all this is unfair. It is a mean-spirited and facile gut reaction. There is something about the way he combs back the hair on the side of his head, or the perfect hair on top, which strikes me as an irritating mark of wealth and privilege. His unwise dinner at the fancy Napa restaurant had incredible traction with the public. People saw it as arrogant hypocrisy. In politics gut reactions matter; if I am inclined to an instant bad vibe, maybe others are, too.

Or maybe I am a false alarm. JFK was photogenic and it was an asset for him. We like to see nice-looking people on TV.  It is unquestionably an asset for female politicians. Tulsi Gabbard and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez both look great. Gabbard wears form fitting primary colors. AOC has a sassy, but now very professional look combined with star quality. Fox News made mistake when they showed images of her dancing when she was a Boston University student and said, Oh, what a silly girl.  Americas looked at her dancing and thought they wanted to see more.

I have been urging Democrats to have a leader with star power, and with Newsom I am looking at someone with it. Even Fox News' choice of photos, often designed to make Democrats look homely or addled or dangerous and here depicting news that Newsom's children have COVID, gives Newsom a handsome, movie-star look.

Fox's photo: Newsom's children have COVID

A college classmate, Tony Farrell, is a brand and marketing expert who has shared Guest Post opinions with readers of this blog. (Readers have seen his work. He managed the Trump Steaks brand. Don't blame Tony for that failure. Trump Steaks failed because the steaks were awesomely overpriced and were no different from ones people could buy anywhere.) Farrell wrote me saying, "I actually believe such out-of-this-world appearance is more positive than negative; almost everyone sees him on screen, and, on screen, people are used to seeing such unusual appearances."

Farrell went on, "Newsom's appearance is awesome. In real life, up close, you can't stop looking up (he is so tall) at his hair."

The problem for Newsom, Farrell said, isn't glamour. It "comes down to how Gavin talks. He is totally crazy ridiculous and everyone will perceive it as being talked down to. They will be put off by his politics, too. They are super progressive. He is as risky as Hillary ever was in terms of likely Presidential election success."

We are likely to see more of Newsom speaking out on national topics. He has a future. He makes an impression.

If you were casting him in a movie, is he the good guy? Maybe so. Maybe he will grow on me.