The much discussed December 2008 paparazzo photo of President Barack Obama's "six pack" and the spring 2009 media preoccupation with First Lady Michelle Obama's "right to bare arms" are indications of just how much we've come to equate fitness with fitness to govern. The well-toned body is seen as a sign of the virtue necessary for governance. Self-control, that is, self-governance, is seen as a prerequisite to govern the populace.*
Earlier this year I sat down to write about these public fascinations. Some of my thinking about this recently appeared in the journal Social Text, on the occasion of the journal's 30th anniversary and 100th issue. You can read more about this here.
**For a terrific book that also explores these ideas around fitness and governance, check out Jeffrey Louis Decker's Made in America: Self-Styled Success from Horatio Alger to Oprah Winfrey.
