THE CELEBRITY QUESTION

Why, after all, is celebrity an insult? Personal magnetism, the ability to galvanize attention and rally masses: this is a bad quality in a Chief Executive? J.F.K. and Ronald Reagan managed to soldier on with this handicap. Besides, celebrity is America's chief international export. There's something almost unpatriotic about denigrating it; it's like insulting Obama by comparing him to a gmc truck. (You know who complains about American celebrity culture? Al-Qaeda and the French, that's who!)

-Time
August 14 2008