Obama’s ears went unnoticed until put front and centre, so to speak

One of the many reasons no sane person should ever consider politics as a career is that it’s the only profession where ears matter.

Their appearance, I mean, not their function. Since television focused us on the appearance of politicians, they have been judged on their height, weight, amount of hair (if they’re men) ankles (if they’re women), teeth and smiles. As of now, the ears are also in play.

A prominent American columnist had a go at Barack Obama’s ears recently. You might not have thought that ear shape was a substantive issue in the candidacy of a frontrunner for the American presidency, but there they were. In print. In a prestigious and authoritative newspaper: Obama’s ears, the limitations of. The owner of the ears got mad as hell and told the columnist off in public about what she had written.