Hail to the geek

Posted by Courtney E. Howard

The jury is still out on how President Elect Barack Obama will be as a president. Some would have us believe that he is already failing--several "talk radio" hosts come to mind, in fact--without having even taken the helm. It certainly looks like the "ship" attached the that helm is sinking, but it's not his fault--although regrettably his problem, as well as ours. I thought I'd throw my own bias into the fray, and suggest that Obama might go down as the geekiest President of the United States to date. This moniker is a not a criticism; in fact, I celebrate geeks. Heck, I love geeks--and I am not alone. (Just visit ThinkGeek.com, a t-shirt of which is shown at right, and you'll see what I mean.) Geeks are cool now; huzzah! I wish that it had been cool when I was in school to be, as I was often called, "a book nerd," but I rejoice nonetheless. Our time has come; better late than never.

Now, I am a journalist and as such I cannot simply throw out a statement with no basis in fact, as subjective as my statement might seem. I have evidence that Obama is the biggest geek to take office as the U.S. President.

The Associated Press reported today that Barack Obama is Spider-Man's latest sidekick. Obama stars in a bonus story within Marvel Comics' "Amazing Spider-Man" No. 583, which hits the stands (and the hot little hands of a number of geeks) this coming Wednesday. Collectors will be at once happy and frustrated to hear that Marvel is offering for purchase two editions, each with a different cover; the future Commander-in-Chief and webbed superhero take center stage on a special Inauguration Day cover. Obama had previously revealed that he collects Spider-Man comics. Further, at one of his events, Obama greeted Leonard Nimoy with the Vulcan hand signal/salute. He also has a favorite X-Men character, and he has written poems.

Hail to the geek, I say. I am nothing but optimistic that a fellow geek will deliver a focus on furthering all things geeky: electronics technology, intellect, and maybe even a cool presidential comic. We could use a superhero.