I'm inclined to believe that Barack Obama and Nelson Mandela are the two sexiest men in the world.

As a TV journalist and a woman I’m intrigued by Obama, particularly his incredible assurance and charisma. I haven’t seen anything remotely like it since I shook hands with the great Mandela a few years back and tears welled in my eyes and smudged my mascara.

To me, Obama and Mandela — some 44 years between them — are beautiful brothers from another planet. Each has roots deep in his own country yet each seems bigger, finer, more universal than us lesser, ordinary mortals.

Both Obama and Mandela have visited Canada. And at the dramatic moment when each climbed down those airplane steps, breathed fresh Canadian air and shook important Canadian hands, each somehow seemed to take command of the country and its people.

And me.

The same thing happens when the two men go anywhere in the world. They seize ownership of people, offer something nobler than the petty rationalizations dear to the rest of us, epitomize the Obamian chant “Yes We Can.” And with them, we truly believe we can.

It’s as if these two men have transcended age, race and gender. They’re both notably masculine anima-men (Carl Jung’s term for the female side of all of us) who radiate integrity, trustworthiness and decency. They’re strong, yet gentle. Determined, yet sensitive. Powerful, yet generous. Very sexy when you put it all together.

And if you must know, yes I could.

Either or both.


(Samantha Jones is a Canadian journalist publishing her erotic memoir at www.lulu.com)