Old ugly white men

Yesterday, I ended up at a press conference where, sitting between all those journalists, I realized three things: I was the only woman. I was the only person looking less than 40. And I was the only one who was definitely not just white. A penguin in the desert.

Let them free: Beer-belly sunbathing with beer-belly wishing to see the sun

A penguin in the desert. The good part of it: I got plenty of attention. Asking people questions or having them call me back later proved to be no problem. They very precisely remembered the penguin and they made a point of calling back and of not only answering my questions – but of asking me things in return. Not about the issues I was covering, but about myself.

I was not feeling too comfortable with all of that, thinking that I might have once again been perceived as the „exotic little migrant“ – when a friend of mine whom I told the story cheered me up: „You know, between all these old, ugly, white men, they were just happy to see a young, cute woman.“ – Now I do prefer his interpretation and will stop my migrant paranoia immediately

This is (almost) the absolute opposite of old ugly white men:

For a politician, the „exotic penguin“ factor is useful – you get attention, a valuable good in the daily instant news circus, if you look different/are perceived as different. If you’re then good at what you’re doing so it’s not just about the person: great.
Who could be Germany’s Obama?
I don’t think it’ll be Cem Özdemir. He has been around for too long.
But how about Tarek Al-Wazir? Or Philipp Rösler?

Tarek Al-Wazir, Green Party (Source: www.wiwo.de/.../al-wazir_tarek11581474.jpg)

Philipp Rösler, Liberals (FDP) (source: dpa)