Obama is Spock: It's quite logical

[jefferson_dem]

Wha? An extreme exercise in shark-jumping? Perhaps... Perhaps not.

Obama is Spock: It's quite logical
Our president bears a striking resemblance to the rational "Star Trek" Vulcan whose mixed race made him cultural translator to the universe.
By Jeff Greenwald

May. 07, 2009 |



"Star Trek" is a cultural comet. From its tiny, ancient core -- a mere 79 episodes, airing before we set foot on the moon -- a seemingly infinite tail has grown, its glow still bright after 43 years. The original series (featuring James T. Kirk, Mr. Spock and Dr. "Bones" McCoy) ran for just three seasons, from 1966 to 1968. All of the techno-bling we associate with the show -- communicators, transporters, warp drive, phasers and Tribbles -- was introduced during that first run. It’s staggering to reflect that the premier episode aired during NASA’s two-man Gemini program -- five years before the first pocket calculator.

On Friday, May 8, the newest offering in the "Star Trek" canon will open in theaters around the world. The film will give us the back story of the original series, and show how its three principles got themselves onto what might be (along with Noah’s Ark and the Titanic) the most famous vehicle in history: the starship Enterprise. Only one of the three main actors of that era will appear in J.J. Abrams' "Star Trek." It won’t be William Shatner (Kirk), or DeForest Kelley (McCoy), who died in 1999. Though Mr. Spock’s role as a half-human, half-Vulcan Starfleet cadet is played by Zachary Quinto, Leonard Nimoy makes a cameo appearance as the future Spock, coming to advise his younger avatar.

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. He was a digital being in an analog world; the Pied Piper who led our generation into the Silicon Age.

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.

<SNIP>

http://www.salon.com/ent/feature/2009/05/07/obama_spock/

[vaberella]

1. His parents?

But I'm partial to:

[BadgerKid]

2. IIRC, that kiss was pretty shocking

for its time. Mr. Roddenberry, RIP, was ahead of his time.

[vaberella]

7. Totally. Now they actually have sex in the new film.

It's still not the same with the "real" Uhura and Kirk.

[AnnieBW]

3. Does anyone have the Newsweek Pic of Spock in the Fairey poster style?

In the print version of Newsweek, there was a picture of Spock done up in the "Hope" poster style. Does anyone have an on-line picture of that?

BTW, just got back from the movie, and it ROCKED!!!

[csziggy]

5. Not Newsweek, but..

[AnnieBW]

10. Broken link

Sorry.

[Clio the Leo]

4. 24 hours later and that's still hot....

.... in a freaky kinda way.

[csziggy]

6. I like this Barack/Spock better!

[vaberella]

8. That's freakin' scary as hell. n/t

[Norrin Radd]

9. My favorite comment on Salon:

Come on, we all know Obama is a Ferengi

and Geithner is the Grand Nagus.

The Bailout, aka Crony Capitalism, is straight out of the Rules of Acquisition.
-- Presumptuous Insect