It's official: Americans are cooler than the British

It’s official: Americans are cooler than the British

For our first few hundred years, America had coolness locked down, especially compared to our former rulers across the pond. We were take-no-prisoners swashbuckling adventurers, they were stiff-upper-lip tea drinkers with amazing manners. Andrew Jackson vs. The Duke of Wellington, Teddy Roosevelt vs. Queen Victoria, John Wayne vs. David Niven.

And then the 1960s happened and everything fell apart.

The Beatles begat the Rolling Stones begat T. Rex begat David Bowie begat the Sex Pistols begat the Clash begat Joy Division begat the Smiths begat Pulp begat Radiohead begat the Libertines. (And that’s just music!) Sure America had some ringers — our Andy Warhols, our Talking Heads, our Bill Murrays — but overall, the average American couldn’t keep up with effortless mod cool of the contemporary Briton. When the Royal Wedding last month ended with Prince William cruising around London in a convertible it was clear: America had fallen behind, perhaps for good.

But Barack Obama’s visit to the UK this week has given us hope! First there was this delightful little video of Barack and Prime Minister David Cameron playing a set of doubles ping pong. Which leader managed to keep his cool while playing such a ridiculous sport? We’ll give you a hint: It wasn’t the one who went to Eton.

And then this morning we spied this picture of the Obamas at Buckingham Palace with Prince Phillip and the Queen. We mean no offense to the Queen, who is truly a lovely woman, but she can’t compete with the million-dollar American charisma that Barack Obama is emanating. Look at that grin!

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