Patterico's Pontifications

8/7/2008

The President and Batman

Filed under: 2008 Election — DRJ @ 12:34 pm



[Guest post by DRJ]

CNN’s Political Ticker previews an article from tomorrow’s Entertainment Weekly that reveals the candidates’ favorite superhero. It turns out they both like Batman (Obama likes Batman and Spiderman) but for very different reasons:

“He does justice sometimes against insurmountable odds,” McCain said of the comic book hero. “And he doesn’t make his good works known to a lot of people.”

For his part, Obama told the magazine he would like to be Batman and Spider Man because “they have some inner turmoil.”

“They get knocked around a little bit,” observed Obama.”

These strike me as characteristic generational responses — McCain is outward-focused and concerned about doing the right thing, while Obama is introspective and concerned about the vagaries and meaning of life.

Or not. Maybe I’m overanalyzing it.

In any event, EW should have asked whether McCain and Obama prefer Adam West’s Batman or the more modern portrayals by actors like George Clooney, Michael Keaton, and Christian Bale. Now that would be revealing.

The Political Ticker link also includes McCain’s pick for his favorite TV or movie President. The follow-up question is interesting.

— DRJ

23 Responses to “The President and Batman”

  1. Interesting to read the comments at CNN. As to McCain’s interest in Batman, its due to his view of what he does. As for Obama’s it seems more self-centered. At least IMO.

    G (722480)

  2. “…McCain is outward-focused and concerned about doing the right thing, while Obama is introspective and concerned about the vagaries and meaning of life…”

    One is focused on doing for others, while the other is focused on “me” – just another member of the self-esteem generation.

    Another Drew (16e81f)

  3. The Incredible Ears!

    Icy Truth (23d64b)

  4. Maybe it is overanalyzing, but when any person (especially one in the limelight) believes and maybe even actually lives this, its very admirable.

    ““And he doesn’t make his good works known to a lot of people.”

    Dana (b4a26c)

  5. You and Another Drew make very good points.

    These strike me as characteristic generational responses…Or not. Maybe I’m overanalyzing it.

    Not overanalyzing at all. Totally agree that the differences are characteristic, but of….well, let’s just say that you put it extremely tactfully. All I know is, the liberals I know are forever talking about their feelings, and conservatives I know are forever talking about what’s right and wrong. YMMV.

    Ivy: How is it that you are so brave while the rest of us shake in our boots?
    Lucius: I never think of what might happen, only what must be done. —The Village, M. Night Shyamalan

    no one you know (1f5ddb)

  6. Comment by Dana — 8/7/2008 @ 12:56 pm

    +1

    no one you know (1f5ddb)

  7. For his part, Obama told the magazine he would like to be Batman and Spider Man because “they have some inner turmoil.”

    “They get knocked around a little bit,” observed Obama.”

    Awwwww…wanna talk about it, Barry? Let’s vent.

    Youdathunk maybe McCain would have said “Captain America.”

    L.N. Smithee (d1de1b)

  8. What’s weird is that I see the folks who believe in absolute right and wrong, black and white, (like McCain supposedly does, at least more than Obama) as the more self-centered people. It’s got to take a huge ego to believe that (1) there’s an absolute right and wrong and (2) you’re the special chosen one who knows what that absolute right and wrong is.

    It seems to me that people who take the interests, perspectives and feelings of others into account do so because they recognize that their own ideas of “right” and “wrong” are always based on their own subjective perspective and limited knowledge.

    But I could be wrong . . . maybe those people DO know absolute right and wrong, and I’m just hindering them from their ultimate destiny of ruling the universe. Who knows . . .

    Phil (6d9f2f)

  9. Phil,

    I’m guessing you aren’t big on the Ten Commandments.

    DRJ (9d1be2)

  10. Phil – Do you deny that some things are inherently right or wrong?

    JD (5f0e11)

  11. Phil – Do you deny that some things are inherently right or wrong?

    No, of course not. I just said I could be wrong — how could I say “I could be wrong” if I deny that there is such a thing as right and wrong?

    Phil (6d9f2f)

  12. Good. I will resume killing, jailing, and otherwise oppressing people now.

    JD (5f0e11)

  13. L.N. Smithee – Youdathunk maybe McCain would have said “Captain America.”

    — You think it woulda been a good idea for a presidential candidate to choose a hero who was assassinated? Very dark, your sense of humor.

    Icy Truth (23d64b)

  14. “…I never think of what might happen, only what must be done…”

    This was an accepted line of thought in an earlier time; otherwise, we would have never succeeded on 6 June 44, and at other venues.

    Another Drew (16e81f)

  15. p.s. hands down, Christian Bale!

    Dana (254946)

  16. This was an accepted line of thought in an earlier time; otherwise, we would have never succeeded on 6 June 44, and at other venues.

    Why do we so often romantacize those terrible periods in human history when human beings were so dumbfounded by each other that they could think of nothing better to do than obliterate each other by the millions?

    Oh yeah — because one side was “right” and the other was “wrong.” That’s why all that killing was so meaningful.

    Philerino (6d9f2f)

  17. Doh, forgot to change my name back.

    Phil (6d9f2f)

  18. Or not. Maybe I’m overanalyzing it.

    Nah.. if you were overanalyzing you would have found both statements to be somehow racist

    Kelly T (8ef5b9)

  19. #16 you’re correct. Pat Buchanan and M Gandhi had it right- all those greedy Jews should never have made life difficult for the Third Reich. Had Adolf succeeded there would be no Palestinian problem now. Had Hitler’s Wehrmacht and Luftwaffe swept through Soviet Russia, there would have been no communist bloc or Cold War.

    Better to turn the other cheek or at least give aggressors what they want at all costs to avoid taking a moral stand and sacrificing lives in unnecessary savage wars to show a country’s machismo. WWII Japan and Germany were both greatly racist and the other inferior should have realized better under chains than dying in vain. Even now, would it not have been a far wiser choice to have stayed out of Hussein’s business and saved the US Treasury and thousands of her uneducated children conned into service?
    Perhaps, under the benign leadership of the Messiah the world will see a new era of peace and accomodation between the have and have nots.

    madmax333 (0c6cfc)

  20. I can see Obama liking Batman. Bruce Wayne was a rich dude who lived in stately Wayne Manor. I don’t remember any conflicys over income redistribution from the comics either.

    daleyrocks (d9ec17)

  21. And Batman never had any shortage of fruits around him. Robin. Are you kidding me?!

    JD (75f5c3)

  22. I’m not too sure about Alfred, JD. The bat cave metaphor is also a little scary when you start thinking about it as well.

    daleyrocks (d9ec17)

  23. Barack’s inner turmoil is in regards to his race, and it’s still playing out. I don’t this is a generational issue, but it is a racial issue.

    tim s (b41595)


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