LOSING YOUR COOL IN A HOT WORLD

So Obama "lost his cool" at a press conference question. And Hillary at an African student's inquiry. What's interesting is how we can't make up our minds. Do we prefer our leaders so cool, their emotions never show? Or do we want them so Palin-esque, their heads never show....?

It's an old question that's grown complicated in a new age. An age where everything has become incredibly complex. Bursting with so many facts and stats and blogs that both our heads and our hearts are drowning in the stuff. The only yes/no people left in our digital democracy seem to be those so comfortably ignorant they simply operate in simple blacks & whites. Say like today's town hall crowds whose apparent lack of specific information makes it easy for their hearts to suppress their heads. Then call it democracy.

In seeking to sort out this question, here is some head stuff and then some heart stuff to consider.....

In the head-driven world of cool facts and stats, two current examples:
* A Seattle bank just fired a hero bank teller who tackled a would-be robber until the police arrived. The bank's heady reason? "The rules instruct our employees to cooperate with robbers"
* One in 10 Americans are now taking anti-depressants, double the rate of 1996. The less quantifiable talk therapy is declining, because heady insurers aren't paying as much

In the heart-driven world of warmer emotions and feelings, two recent examples:
* Americans are now spending $34 billion a year on various alternative therapies not covered by insurers, because they "feel good" about herbal capsules, acupuncture and yoga
* The birthers movement over Obama's legitamcy has raised "feel good" to whole new heights of group hysteria. They hysterically falsified his birth certificate to read "Republic of Kenya," never mind the country didn't exist when Obama was born

Now it's true -- everyone looks at their world out their own window. Still, we need to know the glass is revealing rather than refracting what's out there. All heart and no head can makes it too rose-colored. All head and no heart can makes it too opaque. Which to me means both leaders and followers better maintain both in good order.

Didn't we already learn that as kids in the case of theTinman and the Scarecrow....?