I was as excited as anyone to see Barack Obama move into the White House, but there is still a certain kind of suspicious that one has to be about elected leaders.  Blind faith and allegiance are never a good thing.  We must always maintain our critical eye.

With that in mind, what do you think about the current array of Obama comic books on offer?

His first comic book appearance was in a straight-up biography.

Before long, he was kicking ass alongside Erik Larsen’s The Savage Dragon.

Then he was hanging out with Spider-Man.

And now he’s a bona fide superhero in his own right, with two new series launching from Devil’s Due Publishing. One that takes place in a post-apocalyptic wasteland…

…and one where he has to lead humanity after an alien invasion.

What do you think? Do you think these kind of idealizations are a good thing for democracy? For people’s spirits? For comics publishers’ bottom line?

Bush leaves for good!!! We might not ever have to even look at him again!

But the tide has turned, the 21st century is finally underway, and Bush is not the President any more.  He’s done.  He’s gone.  He’s effectively out of our lives, and hopefully his entire posse of rented snakes is gone with him.

Obama is the President now.

Sometimes I feel providence moving.  You know, in the little things.  When I got on the ship and I was in a shared cabin, I put it out there that a shared cabin was not going to work for me.  Two weeks later, my cabin mate was fired and his replacement lives up at the front of the ship with one of the dancers.  Then I put it out there that however my schedule works out, I need to be able to watch the Obama inauguration.  And then I find out that Princess Cruises wants to make a big deal of the inauguration, make a whole party out of it, and that the Cruise Director wants me to produce and host it.

Remember that Obama illustration from the election? Well let me tell you, that sure came in handy!

Usually the ship shuts right down on a port day but the venue was pretty packed. Everyone was clapping at the speeches. They stood for the national anthem. And since the room is usually used for dancing and bands, there was lots of room for excited children to dance and jump as they applauded.

The prizes for Presidential Trivia – CNN Tote Bags! You know I kept one for myself.

Overall, a really nice moment. For all of the fun I am having being on a luxury ship and missing winter, this is a moment that would have been really nice to share with friends.

Good one, America.  President-Elect Barack Obama.  We’re all very proud of you.

First of all, you put up two really great candidates.  Obama-maniacs went nuts like the world was going to come to an end if McCain had been elected, but everyone forgot about how he was such a darling of the media in the recent past on account of his ‘maverick’ status.  The poor guy got it in his head that he needed Bush’s crowd behind him to win, and started losing himself trying to woo them.  But the whole world is lucky for the fact that no matter who won, there would have been a good president.

Second, there was none of the nastiness that typically characterizes your elections.  I am more media-saturated than I have ever been, and I saw almost no really ugly attack ads until the last week or so.  There was definitely nothing like the Swift Boat Veterans For Truth or whatever they were called in 2004.  Both John McCain and Barack Obama conducted themselves well and the campaign mostly brought out the best in everyone.

And finally, you made the right decision.  Your election of Barack Obama was throwing in with the future.  A few haters have commented that people from around the world have no place taking any pride in Obama’s election.  But if we’re all going to come together and say “We’re all Americans now” in a moment of tragedy, why not for something positive?

We’ll be watching you for the next four years with great interest and enthusiasm.

And now enjoy a little ditty from Lee Dorsey!

Lee Dorsey – YES WE CAN

Download audio file (leedorsey_yeswecan.mp3)

Yeah?

People are sure going nuts over this guy! Has there ever been another politician in any country that’s got people this fired up?

http://www.artofobama.com

My favorite:

A very exciting thought occurred to me amidst all of this. Regardless of who wins the big election next Tuesday, there is a very special day that’s not too far away. In January of 2009, someone is going to get sworn in as president of the United States. That day is going to be the first day that George W. Bush is not the President any more.

I have a phrase that comes up frequently: “American politics is world politics”, since what they do in their yard affects the whole neighborhood. On the one hand, I feel bad for anyone under 21. These young people have only the Bush years, and all of the complete and utter fuckery that has defined them, as their entire experience of how the world works. On the other hand, I am almost jealous of them because in a few months this nightmare will be over and they will get to spend the remainder of their formative years being shaped by something else.

With all of the changes that technology is bringing into our lives, we are in the middle of re-writing the way that society organizes itself. The changes that are happening right now are every bit as drastic as the fall of Rome or the moving of authority from the church to the state. Kennedy, King, Lennon, Trudeau, and Clinton have all had to take the lumps from old people so scared of the change that they will resort to whatever nefarious schemes they have to in order to postpone it. But the change is inevitable and each generation seems more impatient about waiting for it than the last one.

It is possible that I’m caught up in Obama-mania, but with the two candidates that my neighbors have put up as their choices for President, the decision seems like it’s between much more than two approaches to the job or two visions for what’s best for America and the world. It feels like the decision is between the start of what later generations will call “now”, or four more years of what they’ll call “then”.

There is an energy out there and even the squares and the old people are picking it up. We’re still writhing in pain from the hurt of the last eight years (and what a scar that’s going to leave), but we know that the worst is behind us and we just have to sweat it out. It will all be over soon.