Is comparing President Obama to Spock from Star Trek really logical?
We should have guessed at the 2008 Democratic convention in Los Angeles, when Barack Obama spotted Leonard Nimoy and gave the double-finger Vulcan sign to the man who played Spock in the original Star Trek. Yes, Obama is a Trekkie. This endears him to Canadian prime minister Stephen Harper, King Abdullah of Jordan and Arnold Schwarzenegger, who were all delighted to find a fellow fan. And it gives him some common ground with Al Gore, whose Harvard roommates said he spent more time watching the show than studying. (Colin Powell is another avid fan.)
Just as the world divides into Beatles and Stones fans, Trekkies are split into fans of cerebral Spock and those who prefer Captain Kirk (whose character was dreamed up in the 1960s as an echo of JFK). Even without considering his prominent ears, no prizes for guessing which way Obama leans—and what is more, the president is often compared to Spock.
Obama’s mixed heritage finds a parallel in Spock, who is half-human and half-Vulcan. And they both make calm, controlled, logical decisions. Roberto Orci, scriptwriter of the latest Star Trek film, says he researches new aspects of Spock’s character by watching Obama. Leonard Nimoy has said he thinks the comparison is “a compliment to him and to the character.”
But not everyone sees it that way. Obama has been rethinking his Afghanistan policy for over two months—a lifetime in the timeframe of the US media. He had reasons for prolonged deliberation on such a large decision. Vice-president Joe Biden was against sending more troops and Hillary Clinton was sitting on the sidelines. Ensuring she signed up with the policy and agreed to sell it to Nato allies took time.
A Spock fan might applaud Obama’s exploration of all the options. Dick Cheney thinks he’s dithering.?“Every time he delays, defers, debates, changes his position, it begins to raise questions: is the commander-in-chief really behind what they [the military] have been asked to do?” he told the indispensable new Washington daily Politico. He also attacked Obama for apologising for the US, “I think our adversaries… see that as a sign of weakness.”
Trekkies know that supercool Spock took his time, but weakness was no part of his make-up. But Obama may not know that Gene Roddenberry, the second world war bomber pilot and former cop who invented Star Trek, planned to write about the death of a Democratic president. For the second Star Trek movie, Roddenberry devised a plot in which the crew travelled back in time and got involved in the JFK assassination. In a Spock-like decision, Paramount swiftly took him off the project.
The ageing of the senate
The current US senate turns out to be the oldest on average of any senate in history. It makes a good selling point for young challengers, but it’s really a side effect of increasing longevity. The Senate Historical Office reports that the average age of senators at the start of this, the 111th congress, was 62.7 years. The average in the first congress, over 200 years ago, was a mere 47.
The last three congresses have each been the oldest on record until the next bunch of near-geriatrics arrived.?The average is boosted by Senator Robert Byrd of West Virginia, now 92. With 50 years in office, he is not only the longest-serving senator in history but, with six years as a congressman, the longest-serving US legislator of all time. When ambulances were rushed to his Virginia home in September, there was talk of retirement. But the Democrats fear losing his seat so he soldiers on.?
Meanwhile, a survey by JP Morgan has claimed that Obama’s cabinet has the least private sector experience of any administration going back to 1900. The report looked at the heads of 15 departments and concluded that over 90 per cent of them made their careers in the public sector. But website Politifact disagreed, arguing that a third of these cabinet members had corporate or business experience. The survey’s author has backpedalled, calling his methodology “100 per cent subjective.”
Republican witch-hunts
Fresh from losing a safe Republican congress seat in New York, the conservative purists of the Club for Growth are bringing their witch-hunt tactics to the next US senate races. They have devised a ten-point litmus test to judge whether a candidate is a Rino (Republican In Name Only).?The points include no gun controls, no cap-and-trade, no stimulus spending, no amnesty for illegal immigrants, no gay marriage, only market-based health reform and no funding for abortion, along with victory in Iraq and Afghanistan.
The club’s leader, Pat Toomey, is the favourite to win the nomination to fight Arlen Specter in Pennsylvania. Specter switched from Republican to Democrat in April, fearing conservatives would stop him getting through the primary. Toomey has already forced Specter to repay over $100,000 (£61,000) in campaign funds that he raised before swapping parties. The club is also fighting to stop the senate bid of Florida governor Charlie Crist, a moderate, and wants to replace Bob Bennett, a 20-year senate veteran from Utah.
Flush with Wall Street funds, the club has a chilling effect on policy. Its multi-million dollar advertising blitz against health reform led one key Republican moderate, Iowa senator Chuck Grassley, to pull out of bipartisan negotiations.? The Republican establishment, torn between losing centrist voters and arousing the wrath of its increasingly hardline base, doesn’t know what to do. Party chairman Michael Steele is fighting attempts to make the pledge a condition for obtaining party funds. But the national Republican senatorial committee recently announced it won’t intervene between candidates in primaries—a move likely to give the club, with its grassroots activists, even greater influence.
We should have guessed at the 2008 Democratic convention in Los Angeles, when Barack Obama spotted Leonard Nimoy and gave the double-finger Vulcan sign to the man who played Spock in the original Star Trek. Yes, Obama is a Trekkie. This endears him to Canadian prime minister Stephen Harper, King Abdullah of Jordan and Arnold Schwarzenegger, who were all delighted to find a fellow fan. And it gives him some common ground with Al Gore, whose Harvard roommates said he spent more time watching the show than studying. (Colin Powell is another avid fan.)
Just as the world divides into Beatles and Stones fans, Trekkies are split into fans of cerebral Spock and those who prefer Captain Kirk (whose character was dreamed up in the 1960s as an echo of JFK). Even without considering his prominent ears, no prizes for guessing which way Obama leans—and what is more, the president is often compared to Spock.
Obama’s mixed heritage finds a parallel in Spock, who is half-human and half-Vulcan. And they both make calm, controlled, logical decisions. Roberto Orci, scriptwriter of the latest Star Trek film, says he researches new aspects of Spock’s character by watching Obama. Leonard Nimoy has said he thinks the comparison is “a compliment to him and to the character.”
But not everyone sees it that way. Obama has been rethinking his Afghanistan policy for over two months—a lifetime in the timeframe of the US media. He had reasons for prolonged deliberation on such a large decision. Vice-president Joe Biden was against sending more troops and Hillary Clinton was sitting on the sidelines. Ensuring she signed up with the policy and agreed to sell it to Nato allies took time.
A Spock fan might applaud Obama’s exploration of all the options. Dick Cheney thinks he’s dithering.?“Every time he delays, defers, debates, changes his position, it begins to raise questions: is the commander-in-chief really behind what they [the military] have been asked to do?” he told the indispensable new Washington daily Politico. He also attacked Obama for apologising for the US, “I think our adversaries… see that as a sign of weakness.”
Trekkies know that supercool Spock took his time, but weakness was no part of his make-up. But Obama may not know that Gene Roddenberry, the second world war bomber pilot and former cop who invented Star Trek, planned to write about the death of a Democratic president. For the second Star Trek movie, Roddenberry devised a plot in which the crew travelled back in time and got involved in the JFK assassination. In a Spock-like decision, Paramount swiftly took him off the project.
The ageing of the senate
The current US senate turns out to be the oldest on average of any senate in history. It makes a good selling point for young challengers, but it’s really a side effect of increasing longevity. The Senate Historical Office reports that the average age of senators at the start of this, the 111th congress, was 62.7 years. The average in the first congress, over 200 years ago, was a mere 47.
The last three congresses have each been the oldest on record until the next bunch of near-geriatrics arrived.?The average is boosted by Senator Robert Byrd of West Virginia, now 92. With 50 years in office, he is not only the longest-serving senator in history but, with six years as a congressman, the longest-serving US legislator of all time. When ambulances were rushed to his Virginia home in September, there was talk of retirement. But the Democrats fear losing his seat so he soldiers on.?
Meanwhile, a survey by JP Morgan has claimed that Obama’s cabinet has the least private sector experience of any administration going back to 1900. The report looked at the heads of 15 departments and concluded that over 90 per cent of them made their careers in the public sector. But website Politifact disagreed, arguing that a third of these cabinet members had corporate or business experience. The survey’s author has backpedalled, calling his methodology “100 per cent subjective.”
Republican witch-hunts
Fresh from losing a safe Republican congress seat in New York, the conservative purists of the Club for Growth are bringing their witch-hunt tactics to the next US senate races. They have devised a ten-point litmus test to judge whether a candidate is a Rino (Republican In Name Only).?The points include no gun controls, no cap-and-trade, no stimulus spending, no amnesty for illegal immigrants, no gay marriage, only market-based health reform and no funding for abortion, along with victory in Iraq and Afghanistan.
The club’s leader, Pat Toomey, is the favourite to win the nomination to fight Arlen Specter in Pennsylvania. Specter switched from Republican to Democrat in April, fearing conservatives would stop him getting through the primary. Toomey has already forced Specter to repay over $100,000 (£61,000) in campaign funds that he raised before swapping parties. The club is also fighting to stop the senate bid of Florida governor Charlie Crist, a moderate, and wants to replace Bob Bennett, a 20-year senate veteran from Utah.
Flush with Wall Street funds, the club has a chilling effect on policy. Its multi-million dollar advertising blitz against health reform led one key Republican moderate, Iowa senator Chuck Grassley, to pull out of bipartisan negotiations.? The Republican establishment, torn between losing centrist voters and arousing the wrath of its increasingly hardline base, doesn’t know what to do. Party chairman Michael Steele is fighting attempts to make the pledge a condition for obtaining party funds. But the national Republican senatorial committee recently announced it won’t intervene between candidates in primaries—a move likely to give the club, with its grassroots activists, even greater influence.
