In this sense, Republicans are faced with both a challenge and an opportunity. If a demographic shift has made it vital for Republicans to sell conservatism to more millennials and urban, cosmopolitan voters — and I believe it has — it makes sense to go for cool. Marco Rubio — who is young, handsome, and fluent in Spanish, sports, and pop culture — is cool. Especially compared to Hillary Clinton. Grandmothers (and grandfathers!) may be a lot of wonderful things, but “cool” isn’t typically one of them, at least in the popular imagination.

And it’s not just Rubio. Rand Paul is kind of cool, particularly among millennials who are socially liberal but wary of the intrusiveness of big government. Indeed, there might never be a better time for the GOP to steal the “cool” mojo from Democrats — who have tended to “own” the cool factor for the better part of the last 50 years.

If you put aside the historic nature of Hillary Clinton’s candidacy — and that is a huge if — you are left with a candidate who has achieved extraordinary levels of professional success — and is undeniably uncool.