A warning right off the bat: I’m going to get nerdy here.
It had occurred to me earlier in the week and I twittered it, but it hit me again, full-force, during the final Presidential Debate:
Obama = Spock.
There are the obvious parallels: The offspring of two races (white and black vs. Human and Vulcan), the odd looking ears, strange name and most of all, the cool, calm logic. It’s true that Barack Obama does show emotion, which no self-respecting Vulcan would do, but his demeanor, elocution and sheer unflappability suggest the same, dispassionate (and hence, very sexy and admirable) role model that so many of us kids of the 70’s had.
Like many other gawky high-schoolers, I wanted to be Spock. Even though Star Trek was already in syndication, I knew most of the episodes by heart, and hence, was intimately familiar with the Vulcan half-breed outsider character. Fast-forward to this evening; as I watched John McCain get angrier and grumpier, throwing everything he could at Obama in this final debate, the other man remained cool and calm, as he always does. I half expected him to say something like ‘Excuse me Senator, but you are letting your emotions get the better of you.’ and perhaps even (a real quote from the series): ‘After a time, you may find that having is not so pleasing a thing, after all, as wanting. It is not logical, but it is often true’
I’m not alone in making this observation. A Google search for Obama=Spock hit pay dirt instantly. I was pleased to see that the New York Observer had an article on this very subject a little over a week ago: Be Logical, Captain! and two professors, Mitchell Aboulafia, who teaches at the Julliard School, and Henry Jenkins, who is at MIT also made the connection. In fact, Jenkins made a speech at Future of Civic Media conference hosted at MIT this past summer that dwelt deeply upon the parallels between Spock and Obama, and came to this inevitable (I think) conclusion, and then some.:
In its own small way, Star Trek and Spock may have helped to prepare the way for Obama’s victory in the Democratic primaries, helping us to imagine a different set of relationships between the races. Nowhere was this social utopian vision more fully expressed than the “great friendship” between Kirk and Spock and so we can see some legacy of this theme of acceptance across racial boundaries emerging through the slash fan fiction which became one of the major legacies of early Star Trek fan culture. The other “non-white” characters may have been more suggestions than fully developed figures — at least on the original series — but Spock was someone we got to know and care about because, not despite, his differences. This is one reason why so many fans of my generation were upset when Kirk praises Spock for being “the most human” person he has ever known during his funeral eulogy in Star Trek: The Wrath of Khan. Can you imagine the uproar if someone praised Obana’s “whiteness”?
I’ve included a couple of photos from Jenkins that point out the startling similarity between the candidate and the character:
At any rate, if ever there were a need for a calm, logical Vulcan at the helm of the USS America, it would be now. Let’s hope he can get the warp drive working before the ship drops out of orbit and burns up in the atmosphere. Or something like that.
We were Twittering about this! Now, the problem is … isn’t Spock like, the VP to Captain Kirk? If so, then… shouldn’t his VP be like, the President? Just saying…
Yes, I noted that at the beginning of the post. As for Spock being a second-in-command, bear in mind that this is just for the original series. In the subsequent movies (and in much fan fiction) he is a commander in his own right.
As for the resemblance between Barack and Spock (they even rhyme!), I think I was more struck by the similarity in temperament and manner — the way they carry themselves. I would have had little trouble seeing Mr.Spock as the President (although I’m sure there would be some plot-line about how you can’t govern with just the head, but also with the heart — gee, wasn’t that the moral of Metropolis?), and I also could easily see Mr. Obama as a science officer on an away mission, and remember, he’d be wearing a blue shirt, not the infamous security colour that black officers usually wore in the series, leading to the whole redshirt character of Star Trek (and beyond):
What a wonderful analysis and cross reference of possible reasons Obama is such a likeable character. He does present a sense of calm secure thoughtful deliberation.
Sounds like a major improvement compared to the McCain/Palin/Bush — unpredictable Q‑like quick and thoughtless responses.
To be fair, McCain does exhibit the honor, courage and warrior qualities of Worf. Good qualities for a soldier, perhaps not deep enough for commander in chief re: foreign policy relations.
Great post David. Fun but with insight. I didn’t know the red shirt character was a term. Although, when I was growing up we only had a black and white tv so my Star Trek was colourless.
Thanks Artist3d and MJ!
I tend to think of Bush/Palin/McCain as Ferengi, the species who are (Wikipedia): “characterized by a mercantile obsession with profit and trade and their constant efforts to swindle people into bad deals”
Yes, the redshirt ‘device’ is actually found in scripts. I remember a hysterical play on the concept in the Sci Fi Comedy Galaxy Quest, when Sam Rockwell, playing the character Guy Fleegman, realizes (with great apprehension) that he’s a ‘red shirt’ and is not convinced by Daryl Mitchell’s character that he is the ‘quirky comic relief guy’ rather than the expendable canon fodder.