Perhaps by this post’s end, the answer to my question, “Am I good-looking enough to run for a political office?” will find an answer.  You see, I’m mightily confused about appearance, political office and political correctness.

A confluence of events and random conversations pushed this question to the front.  In one news thread, Hillary Clinton’s political future rivals her hair for headlines; another thread chats up President Obama’s complimentary quip about California’s female attorney general; pundits chat about other possible 2016 presidential candidates and I hear echoes “too overweight” and/or “too old;” and lastly, two friends recently turned 60–one in a depression and the other worried about loss of sex appeal.

My world is one of youth gone by and living with imperfection.  I never considered myself a beauty, but I was never without attention or male heads-turning my way.  Then one day it stopped. Suddenly my membership in the invisible women’s club was initiated—and I didn’t even apply for membership.

But to have the chops to run for the most powerful position in the world—President of the USA—the odds turn towards experience vs. good looks—sort of. ( Most every president is rarely below a 7 in good looks, except for Richard Nixon. I thought he rated a 4.5.)

Age matters.  Age should indicate a nice file cabinet of wisdom.

YET, even with Mrs. Clinton’s amazing resume, we still prattle on about her freaking hair. Why? (Yes, we do talk about our current president’s hair—how it’s turning grey, but his buzz cut refutes styling commentary.) When I researched the news for this post, I even discovered a blog dedicated to nothing by Hillary Clinton’s hair. Save me!

Now flip this coin, and we have mountains of opinion about Obama’s comment,

 “best-looking attorney general in the country” being a bad thing to say about a professional woman.  Not politically correct. Huh?    From the New York Times: Joan Walsh wrote on Salon that “my stomach turned over” when she heard about the comment. “Those of us who’ve fought to make sure that women are seen as more than ornamental — and that includes the president — should know better than to rely on flattering the looks of someone as formidable as Harris,” she said.

Criminently!  When that attorney general walked on stage in her smart white suit, she was breathtaking.  I didn’t think her an ornament.  Or maybe she is –just like the list of “The Fittest Politicans” featured in Men’s Health magazine.

When I ran raw veggies and fruit through my new juice extractor this morning—in an attempt to see if I can regain some of that youthful vavoom –the juice came out brown—a discombobulated blend of foods that perfectly matched my conundrum over this age vs. looks vs, proper speak-thing.

Fortunately I have no interest in running for anything more serious than fly-catcher.  I am happy within my being and okay with who I have become.  But if life was different and I hung in the king-maker circles, would I be good-looking enough to run for president?  Hmmm, maybe if I did the following:  color my hair, lift my eyes, drop the weight, lift the chin, lipo the thighs, shop Neiman-Marcus, wear high heels again…Wait.  That’s the deal breaker—wearing high heels again.

I knew I’d find the answer.  So no worries about silver roots, going under the scalpel, friending Jenny Craig, and blowing my retirement on one business suit from Neiman’s.  Whew.