Now, I'm off to do the time warp.

Again.

Entitlements and entertainment, too! “We will tax and tax, spend and spend, elect and elect” comes with a flair this year, American Idol style. The Dems are modern.

What will it be like 10-20 years from now when retirement-related federal problem problems are crippling and things get ugly because taxes will have to be raised to much higher levels than ever before? (And constraints on the programs at the same time, don't forget.) It won't be the happy-time stuff we see this year.

There's something of a superhero nature to Obama's campaign this year, same as his “rock star” status. Namely, it's a celebrity presence and aura seen as larger than one's own life to a lot of voters this year.

And there's still time for Obama to be given Balco growth hormone and anabolic and androgenic steroids to beef and masculinize his appearance before the debates!

You're welcome. You know, I think that picture shows that Sen. Obama is a VERY different politician than the media-managed ones we tend to see.

After all, ,most publicists and media managers would have kittens at the thought of a national politician making such a pose.

Obama instead decides to have some fun. How can one not like him for that?

You see his subtle sense of humor come out in numerous other cases too. Folks say he is stiff and cold . . . but I know people like him. It is a subdued smart humor, that is not conveyed by the media so well.

That reminded me…here is a great picture of Senator Obama posing in front of a Superman statue!
I really like this picture…I think it subverts the cliche that Obama has no sense of humor.

http://obama.senate.gov/photo/001122.html

“A working class hero is something to be.
Keep you doped with religion and sex and TV,
And you think you're so clever and classless and free”

Yah, it's hard to get people to understand their own power unless their backs are against the wall, and by then it may be either too late, or they've already become too cynical to care.

Jazz, these words of yours:

“I fear that we have no room for super heroes in our modern world. They simply don’t fit in with the rest of the picture. We’re stuck here in our lifeboat with naught but our own wits and limited resources to carry the day.”

When I read that I can't help but think of religion in America (and the world) and how so many are convinced there is a god watching everything, and that if a person plays the game right, then “god” will rescue them in the end, independent of whether or not said rescuee has made any personal sacrifices to help “carry the day” in the real world. To me the dynamic is much the same as hoping for a superhero to bail us out of the problems we create. Better we face life with a greater appreciation of how our own “wits and limited resources” are most likely going to have to be enough.

Should the captain be a super hero, heave the ship on his shoulders and carry it to port? NO.
Should he be hero enough to inspire the crew to row their best? YES.

While “Hancock” was shopped around for ages as a much-talked about property, the underlying idea is suggestive of our modern era.

After all…Marvel Comics killed Captain America – that American icon since WW II – only a few months ago.

(Yes, he will almost certainly be resurrected…but the significance of killing him at this time goes to Jazz's main thesis).

It must be said that pop culture/comics have explored some of Jazz's points. The brilliant “Kingdom Come” of a few years back applied a “real world” analysis to the world of supermen (Superman cynical and retired after LoisLane's murder; Batman crippled; Green Arrow an amputee; Captain Marvel insane) looking at these heroes from an “average joe” POV.

http://www.amazon.com/Kingdom-Come-Mark-Waid/dp…

That said…I would disagree with Silhouette in that symbols are not always distractions from reality. After all, Old Glory flew over a “slave nation” a century and a half ago…a Slave Nation with much the same Constitution that it possesses today.

Symbols are figures of aspiration. Consider: Both Captain America and Superman were created by young Jewish kids. Granted Jack Kirby had a longer career than Supes' creators … but he was exploited by corporations just the same.

But Kirby believed in America…and created symbols incarnating that belief…even when he was shafted by its corporations.

My two cents…

Look over here where the glove is pointing so that you won't know just off camera that your candidate is failing, that you could nominate another one that would win. Look at the lion jumping through the flaming hoop or the man stopping the train with one hand so that you won't notice BigOil trying to drill in your Wilderness Areas. Watch the shiny wand to keep from pressuring Congress to force BigOil to implement site-specific safe and renewable alternative energy generation.

As long as we stay dumb, distracted and occupied we won't notice we have the superpower at our own fingertips to exact real and potent change.