In late winter every year, the Manning Centre, a conservative think-tank founded by Preston Manning, holds a get-together for conservatives of all stripes to gauge the progress of the right-wing movement and plan how to keep the Liberals and New Democrats out of power.

Last March, Virginia Postrel, an American commentator who has written extensively about the power of glamour in politics, told the assembled conservatives at a workshop that glamorous political candidates may be extremely rare. But when they do emerge, they are unbeatable – until opponents can breach that glamour.

Until that happens, the glamour is like Teflon that shields a politician from mistakes, personal attacks or broken promises.

As examples, she cited Jack Kennedy, Ronald Reagan, Barack Obama and Pierre Trudeau. Justin Trudeau’s name never came up. But you know who was obviously on the minds of the concerned conservatives who were asking questions at the session.

They were right to be concerned. Certainly, a Canadian prime minister who has been profiled in Vogue and the New York Times while receiving gushing international coverage within the first month in office qualifies as a glamorous leader.

Not present at the packed session were members of former prime minister Stephen Harper’s inner circle. Had they been there, perhaps last October’s federal election might have had a different outcome. No doubt, delegates at this year’s Ottawa Manning conference, Feb. 25 to 27, will be asking why the Harper administration didn’t take Justin Trudeau seriously.

On the other hand, commentators and critics would be reasonable in asking how the new prime minister can possibly keep 150 election promises in his four-year term.

The Liberals have missed two targets so far in bringing Syrian refugees to Canada. The Liberals have yet to justify how a government can change how Canadians elect their members of Parliament without holding a referendum. Trudeau’s commitment to withdraw CF-18 jet fighters from Syria as the war there continues to accelerate now looks a bit ill considered. And anxiety about Canada’s economy only grows.

Yet, none of these issues have made any difference. Trudeau and his sunny ways continue to soar in public approval. The first Nanos poll of the year put J.T. 40 points ahead of his opponents in terms of who would make the best prime minister.

The key to a glamorous politician’s success is mystery. Something has to be left to the imagination, Postrel says. Photographer George Hurrell, who took those iconic Hollywood photos of the 1930s and ’40s, once said the formula for glamour is a matter of bringing out the best, concealing the worst and leaving something to the imagination.

This is probably why Trudeau and his handlers haven’t gotten around to explaining how the Liberals are going to pull off their giant agenda. No matter how many deadlines on refugees are missed, the public will only remember the photos of a smiling Trudeau greeting asylum seekers at the arrival gate. Or they will remember sound bites such as “because it’s 2015” without being able to name half the new cabinet.

Glamour generates a sense of longing – an “if only” feeling that projects onto someone or a political platform.

Politicians who master the art of glamour never appear to be secretive or opaque. But they can’t be called transparent, either, according to Postrel. They are translucent, showing just enough to keep voters fascinated.

Baldassare Castiglione, a Renaissance Italian politician, diplomat and soldier, writing in The Book of the Courtier, described strategic use of glamour as sprezzatura: “a certain nonchalance, so as to conceal all art and make whatever one does or says appear to be without effort and almost without any thought about it.”

The trick for practitioners of sprezzatura is to figure out the gaps in a nation’s identity that frustrate voters. For Obama, that meant hope and change. For Reagan, it meant making America proud again. For Trudeau the elder, it meant a just society. For Kennedy, it meant Camelot. For our current prime minister it means Canada is both serious – and cool.

Until the Opposition can convince the voters that reality will inevitably fall short of the promise, the political honeymoon for Justin Trudeau will continue.

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