May 7, 2009
Obama Worship Goes Secular Geek… Atheists now to bow to Spock-O-Bama—a melding of two “mixed race icons” The Salon.com article “Obama is Spock: It’s quite logical,” by Jeff Greenwald, carries the subhead “Our president bears a striking resemblance to the rational ‘Star Trek’ Vulcan whose mixed race made him cultural translator to the universe.” This concept is apparently not shocking to Trekkies and media elite: Spock has been on many minds lately, and not entirely because of the new film. Big thinkers in both print media and the blogosphere—from New York Times columnist Maureen Dowd to MIT media moguls—have referenced the Enterprise’s science officer in recent months, drawing parallels between the dependably logical half-Vulcan and another mixed-race icon: Barack Obama. They’re not just talking about the ears. For those of us who watched the show in the 1960s (or during the countless reruns since), Nimoy’s alter ego was the harbinger of a future in which logic would reign over emotion, and rational thought triumph over blind faith…. Anyone who followed the early “Star Trek” with regularity knows how charismatic Spock was. If there were two characters I wanted to be as a young man, they were Spock — and James Bond. Both displayed total self-confidence, and amazing problem-solving skills. Both traveled to exotic destinations, and were irresistible to women. And both shared a quality that my generation lacked completely: composure. Good gracious. This is taking a “thrill up the leg” to a whole ‘nother level. Greenwald does capture one seemingly reasonable comparison between Spock and Obama: their physical bearing (at least in the head area). “The raised eyebrow, the lifted chin, the vaguely sarcastic mien — these were coins of the realm to my pubescent friends.” (Oh, what sad, lonely children they must have been.) On the surface, most would agree there’s a similarity in those areas. But if you probe more deeply, a less impassioned observer can see that Obama holds his chin in a permanent, more emotional and jutting lift. His brows tend more towards being in a furrow or a scowl than raised. And on the other side, Spock’s vocabulary did not include “um” and “uh.” He did not use a teleprompter. And he certainly did not swagga. Greenwald makes it clear that physical similarity is merely the jumping-off point. This is no simple hope-and-change fantasy that Obama’s gonna pay for his mortgage or buy him gas. He’s thrown his lifelong childhood-pain-and-isolation fantasies of becoming cool and powerful into this. All the crushed dreams and humiliations suffered when raised eyebrows and chins could not get him into the popular crowd are being avenged for him now by Spock-O-Bama: “Star Trek” fans who bonded with Spock already understood what those of us who followed Obama learned early on: that witnessing a powerful intellect can be deeply satisfying on an emotional level. We got a similar hit from Martin Luther King Jr. and the Kennedys, of course, and from Bill Clinton. But while Clinton’s administration was smart, Obama’s seems futuristic. Greenwald does take a moment in his article to indulge a futuristic, sci-fi fantasy: Which is another reason why the sometimes audacious diplomacy of the Obama administration is innately appealing to those of us weaned on the credo of “exploring strange new worlds” and “seeking out new life and new civilizations.” And what if the Earth itself was visited by aliens? If benevolent ETs were to land on the Mall tomorrow, most of humanity would be proud to have Barack Obama speak for us. If Bush were still president, we’d be looking at “Mars Attacks.” There’s a key word in that last paragraph that proves Mr. Greenwald is still living in a childish Trekkie fantasy world. That word is “benevolent.” “If benevolent ETs were to land…,” Spock-O-Bama might frighten them off with an Air Force One photo op. But, really, Mr. Greenwald, which of all the diplomatically difficult dictators in the world are you calling benevolent? Kim Jong Il? Chavez? Hezbollah? Fatah? Osama Bin Laden? Somali pirates? Mugabe? Paris Hilton could deal with “benevolent” ETs. It’s the dangerous, malicious, insane, conniving ones that Obama’s already having problems with. (And our long-time “benevolent” allies certainly aren’t showing him all the love and glory and slobbering that we were promised.)

Obama Worship Goes Secular Geek…

Atheists now to bow to Spock-O-Bama—a melding of two “mixed race icons”

The Salon.com article “Obama is Spock: It’s quite logical,” by Jeff Greenwald, carries the subhead “Our president bears a striking resemblance to the rational ‘Star Trek’ Vulcan whose mixed race made him cultural translator to the universe.”

This concept is apparently not shocking to Trekkies and media elite:

Spock has been on many minds lately, and not entirely because of the new film. Big thinkers in both print media and the blogosphere—from New York Times columnist Maureen Dowd to MIT media moguls—have referenced the Enterprise’s science officer in recent months, drawing parallels between the dependably logical half-Vulcan and another mixed-race icon: Barack Obama.

They’re not just talking about the ears. For those of us who watched the show in the 1960s (or during the countless reruns since), Nimoy’s alter ego was the harbinger of a future in which logic would reign over emotion, and rational thought triumph over blind faith….

Anyone who followed the early “Star Trek” with regularity knows how charismatic Spock was. If there were two characters I wanted to be as a young man, they were Spock — and James Bond. Both displayed total self-confidence, and amazing problem-solving skills. Both traveled to exotic destinations, and were irresistible to women. And both shared a quality that my generation lacked completely: composure.

Good gracious. This is taking a “thrill up the leg” to a whole ‘nother level.

Greenwald does capture one seemingly reasonable comparison between Spock and Obama: their physical bearing (at least in the head area). “The raised eyebrow, the lifted chin, the vaguely sarcastic mien — these were coins of the realm to my pubescent friends.” (Oh, what sad, lonely children they must have been.)

On the surface, most would agree there’s a similarity in those areas. But if you probe more deeply, a less impassioned observer can see that Obama holds his chin in a permanent, more emotional and jutting lift. His brows tend more towards being in a furrow or a scowl than raised. And on the other side, Spock’s vocabulary did not include “um” and “uh.” He did not use a teleprompter. And he certainly did not swagga.

Greenwald makes it clear that physical similarity is merely the jumping-off point. This is no simple hope-and-change fantasy that Obama’s gonna pay for his mortgage or buy him gas. He’s thrown his lifelong childhood-pain-and-isolation fantasies of becoming cool and powerful into this. All the crushed dreams and humiliations suffered when raised eyebrows and chins could not get him into the popular crowd are being avenged for him now by Spock-O-Bama:

“Star Trek” fans who bonded with Spock already understood what those of us who followed Obama learned early on: that witnessing a powerful intellect can be deeply satisfying on an emotional level. We got a similar hit from Martin Luther King Jr. and the Kennedys, of course, and from Bill Clinton. But while Clinton’s administration was smart, Obama’s seems futuristic.

Greenwald does take a moment in his article to indulge a futuristic, sci-fi fantasy:

Which is another reason why the sometimes audacious diplomacy of the Obama administration is innately appealing to those of us weaned on the credo of “exploring strange new worlds” and “seeking out new life and new civilizations.” And what if the Earth itself was visited by aliens? If benevolent ETs were to land on the Mall tomorrow, most of humanity would be proud to have Barack Obama speak for us. If Bush were still president, we’d be looking at “Mars Attacks.”

There’s a key word in that last paragraph that proves Mr. Greenwald is still living in a childish Trekkie fantasy world. That word is “benevolent.”

“If benevolent ETs were to land…,” Spock-O-Bama might frighten them off with an Air Force One photo op. But, really, Mr. Greenwald, which of all the diplomatically difficult dictators in the world are you calling benevolent? Kim Jong Il? Chavez? Hezbollah? Fatah? Osama Bin Laden? Somali pirates? Mugabe?

Paris Hilton could deal with “benevolent” ETs. It’s the dangerous, malicious, insane, conniving ones that Obama’s already having problems with. (And our long-time “benevolent” allies certainly aren’t showing him all the love and glory and slobbering that we were promised.)

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