‘An Aging Rock Star’?

President Obama's reelection prospects look grim. The New York Times, in its account of Saturday's campaign launch, reported:

At times, the rallies had the feeling of a concert by an aging rock star: a few supporters were wearing faded “Hope” and Obama 2008 T-shirts, and cheers went up when the president told people to tell their friends that this campaign was “still about hope” and “still about change.”

Yikes. "[A]n aging rock star." From the president's friends at the New York Times!

And if President Obama is an aging rock star (perhaps the Times's Mark Landler was thinking of Bob Dylan singing the 60s anthem, "The Times They Are A-Changin'," at the Obama White House), what does that make Mitt Romney?

He is not just like a rock star—he is a star performer in his own right. Here he is in Iowa, serenading a rapt audience with … “America the Beautiful.”