"One world, one dream" may be the official motto of the Summer Olympics, but the Americans have been running more with "The power and politics of mellow."
While China opened the ceremonies with an intimidating legion of stern and precision-perfect drummers, the American athletes, resplendent though they were in Ralph Lauren, couldn't seem to put down their cellphones or spit out their gum. During the Games, perspiration-free Chinese officials have kept their distance and defined "dressed down" as no jacket, while President Bush cavorted short-sleeved and sweaty with the women's beach volleyball team. The Chinese yanked a 7-year-old songbird out of the limelight because her teeth weren't perfect, but Americans have swooned at mini-biopics designed to celebrate our stars' endearing imperfections, like demi-god Michael Phelps shoveling down sugary cereal and waking up next to his snoring bulldog.
No one captured the American mood better than Matt Lauer, who decided to conduct his interviews for the "Today" show wearing loafers without socks (a fashion statement he also made during his Britney Spears interview). These Olympics, he seemed to say, are less a battle of political wills than establishing a dominant national personality. Which attitude will rule the world in coming decades -- the uptight or the laid-back?
Or more succinctly: It's 97 degrees, dude, why would anyone wear socks?
At times, it has seemed as if the Americans were making a concerted effort to appear super-casual despite being at an event not known for casualness. Considering the host country, this makes perfect sense. The Chinese have always intimidated us; let's just say it out loud. Bound by rules and traditions beyond our mere 2-century-old comprehension, they make even the British look sloppily emotive.
And certainly they have a recent history of valuing the things most Americans do not: conformity, homogeneousness, atheism, shame. The Mao jackets, the one-child policy, the political and religious repression -- these things add up, creating an impression that is difficult to dispel, even with a multibillion-dollar, embrace-the-world Olympics. Still, there's no denying that Chinese culture is impressive in a way American culture is not -- they invented paper, for gosh sake, and then there's that Wall.
Trying too hard?
