Wednesday, January 21, 2009

President Barackenaten



Barack Obama has truly become one of the most inspiring figures in American history.


In any other time, he would be considered an extraordinary individual. After the disturbed mood of the Bush years, though, it's understandable why a desperate world would rejoice at the promise of such an intelligent Chief Executive.

The inauguration was streaming on my computer while I was working at the studio. At 11:30, I had a cup of hot green tea, a cookie bar, & sat back to watch the swearing-in ceremonies.

As I viewed this amazing event on my futuristic light-manipulation devices (known as computer & monitor), I had the comforting sense that a progressive President Obama has the real potential to inspire modern, effective solutions to our worst problems.

I went back to look at the first post in which I mentioned Obama. The cynic in me had alot of trouble accepting that Americans would vote for a guy with the name "Barack Hussein Obama". This was less than a couple years go... when the idea of President Osama-bama was borderline ridiculous! It just goes to show that rapid and tremendous change are unavoidable facts of life.

One has to be sobered by the knowledge, though, that there are myriad malevolent forces in the world that will resist the paradigm shifts that an Obama Administration might bring to the table. We also have to accept that as long as we inhabit this physical realm, there will always be suffering in life- no matter how great our leaders are.

I've half-jokingly compared Obama to the Egyptian Pharoah Akhenaten, its first known monotheistic king. Akhenaten declared a new capital & state religion, consisting of one god- the sun disc Aten.


The symbol of the Sun represents 'life', 'a new day', 'power', 'stability', and a literally endless number of other associations.

Our relatively immense Sun has always been used as a symbol of majesty & royalty.

When I saw the photo of Obama standing next to the Superman statue, the first thing that came to mind (besides it being a funny picture) was the sun symbolism surrounding both figures.

Superman is one of humanity's numerous stories of solar god-men. Obama's campaign logo was the perfect circle - echoing the 'O' in his last name & the sun of a new dawn.

Barack Obama & his team used the most powerful symbolism known to man in order to create the most tremendous possible effect on public consciousness.

So far, I think his leadership ability has been utterly amazing.

Of course...

Not everyone is excited about the new direction of an Obama Presidency:

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