Obama Watch

The recent very popular Watchmen superhero film, based on the well-known comic book series by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons, has resulted in many comparisons between that fictitious universe and our current administration under President Obama.

Some are tongue-in-cheek:

“We can all learn something from the Watchmen. Personally, I hope [Obama] repeals the law against costumed vigilantes soon.”

Someone even wanted to know: “So witch (sic) watchman would Obama be? He acts with a Dr. Manhattan like cool detachment, but that’s because he is a politician. I think deep down he is more of a Nightowl.”

Others quipped that Obama is to establish a Department of Watchmen (DoW) to oversee Watchmen-related activities! They even have the DoW badge to prove it.

And then there is the Obama Watchmen NYC subway mashup art that mysteriously appeared soon after the movie opened. Cool!

And have you seen the funny YouTube movie where Rorschach wants President Obama dead, because he’s trying to eliminate the heroes of New York? Of course, Dr. Manhattan has to stop him!

Eming Piansay is a bit more serious about things:

“The election of President Obama seemed to usher in what some might be see as the heroic knight, riding in on a horse and undoing what the last eight years had done to America. … But as the Watchmen illustrates, though we as humans are flawed, even the most powerful of us falter and fall into the routines and mistakes of our predecessors. Can we love and support our heroes and still hold them to our critical judgment? Easier said than done I think. Can we keep our President in-check long enough to prevent horrific events similar to 9/11, or the events that took place during Hurricane Katrina? Who was watching the watchmen then? And are we them watching now?”

Emptywheel suggests, “Watching the Watchmen: What Obama Can Do About Illegal Surveillance”, while Stirling Newberry asks, “Who is Going to Watch the Financial Watchmen?”.

Even Barack Obama gave a shoutout to Watchmen in his May 21 Speech on National Security at the National Archives:

“We’re currently launching a review of current policies by all those agencies responsible for the classification of documents to determine where reforms are possible, and to assure that the other branches of government will be in a position to review executive branch decisions on these matters. Because in our system of checks and balances, someone must always watch over the watchers — especially when it comes to sensitive administration — information.” (Emphasis added by me)

And Obama isn’t the first US President linked to Watchmen. Ronald Reagan’s second-term approach to US-Soviet relations had uncanny resemblances to the Ozymandias strategy. As the great (depending on your views) Ronald once said:

“I’ve often wondered, what if all of us in the world discovered that we were threatened by a greater power from outer space from another planet — wouldn’t we all of a sudden find that we didn’t have any differences between us at all?”

So all these Obama-Watchmen parallels caused me to adopt a play on the famous Watchmen slogan, “Who watches the watchmen?” for this blog:

“He watches over us, but who watches him?”

Hope it’s not too lame

Related Posts

• Elizabeth Warren: Extra Footage from "The Road We've Traveled"
• The Road We've Traveled - Live Stream with David Axelrod and Mitch Stewart
• Tough Decisions: "The Road We've Traveled" Teaser - Obama for America 2012
• The Road We've Traveled Official Trailer - Obama for America 2012