Barack Obama: Difference between revisions

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** He plays video games. At a minimum, we know he plays ''[[Wii Sports]]'' bowling. On the other side of the spectrum, Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk gifted him ''[[The Witcher]] 2'' when he visited Poland in May 2011.

** He was on ''[[Myth Busters]].'' That's the nerd Brass Ring.

* [[Both Sides Have a Point]]: Obama's book ''The Audacity of Hope'' often employed "On the one hand... on the other hand" examinations of the merits of both sides of political impasses, and at his first major national speech at the 2004 Democratic convention he confidently declared ''"We worship an awesome God in the blue states, and we don't like federal agents poking around our libraries in the red states — we coach Little League in the blue states and have gay friends in the red states."'' Unfortunately for him, conservatives quickly attacked him as a closet radical socialist, while liberals grew frustrated with his perceived caving to Republican interests.

* [[But Not Too Black]]: Many black people were concerned about this early in the election. Some claimed he wasn't really black because they considered blacks to be those descended from slaves, whereas Obama's father was a native African. This may have been to his advantage though, as he didn't have the baggage of 350 years of oppression. Even aside from the early election, perspectives vary, partially due to mixed race rarely being a cultural identity in the US; most feel pressured to fit into one of the existing cultural groupings.

* [[Do Not Call Me Paul]]: Inverted. Growing up he'd been known by the nickname "Barry" (as had his father, Barack Sr.), but in college he decided he preferred to be addressed by his given name.

* [[Does This Remind You of Anything?]]:

** Rewatch the final presidential election on ''[[The West Wing]]'' and note how eerie the similarities are to the 2008 election. Pure coincidence, you say? The writers based the character of Matt Santos on then state-senator Barack Hussein Obama. Also, Josh Lyman became Santos' chief of staff in this story, and Lyman is known to be heavily based on Rahm Emanuel, a Clinton-era staffer... who went on to become Barack Obama's first chief of staff.

** The late 90's manga ''EAGLE: The Making of an Asian-American President'' details a year 2000 presidential election where an Asian-American senator gets elected as POTUS. Change the ethnicity of the main character, and interesting similarities appear: He starts out as a dark horse candidate who quickly eclipses his rivals who had gone into the primaries assuming their victory, one of the senator's early main obstacles is an expy of Hilary Clinton, his VP pick is an established Washington insider (an expy of Al Gore rather than Joe Biden, but the reasoning behind the picks are similar) and his Republican opponent is an elderly military hero whose supporters are very hostile to the idea of a non-white president, who they fear would be in the pocket of foreign powers.

** Blair Underwood's character of President Elias Martinez on [[The Event]] bears a lot of similarity, down the to idealism (and criticism for it), and older, more 'traditional' VP.

* [[Dramatic Pause]]: Gets into very awkward, choppy pausing like this at times.

* [[Hopemongering]]: He used the word as a way to characterize how his detractors might respond to his message.

* [[Identical Grandson]]: Compare him with photos of his mother's father, Stanley Armour Dunham. Despite the different racial backgrounds, the resemblance is remarkable.

* [[Is This Thing Still On?]]: The source of his famed (with bi-partisan agreement) claim that Kanye West is a jackass. [[Oh Crap]] ensued when he realised that, yes, it was still on.

* [[The Load]]: Joe Biden is noted as being an odd inverse [[Straw Man Has a Point]], where many of his comments meant in praise of Obama would, if anyone else were saying it, be savage criticism (such as suggesting that if Obama was elected a crisis would appear to test him, ''after'' he was selected as VP).

* After a trip to Japan, he discovered that the town he was visiting was in fact called "Obama". Consequently, Japanese media has been referencing him for a while.

* There is an Obama H-[[Doujinshi]] (''My Neighbour Taro-kun'') out there. It's even weirder than you're probably thinking. Starring Obama and other political leaders, the 'story' involves (most prominently) Obama having sex with his neighbor's kinky maid - and then an orgy with ''Hillary Clinton'' present. (And she's not half bad looking, either- her chest gets a bit of a boost.)

* Obama has made several [[Lawyer-Friendly Cameo|Lawyer Friendly Cameos]] in the 2008 ''Yatterman'' anime. One of the more memorable ones featured a preadolescent Obama [[Toy Ship|romancing a preadolescent Hillary Clinton]], that episode being broadcast while the two of them were still competing fiercely IRL for the democratic presidential candidacy.

** The leader of the United Nations bears a remarkable resemblance to Obama, earning him the nickname '00bama''. His replacement at the end of the series is a woman. Think about that for a moment.

** ''Gundam 00'' also has a minor (but sympathetic) squad leader in the [[State Sec|A-Laws]] who looks possibly biracial and is named Barack.

* The very first promo for ''[[Minami-ke]] Okaeri'' had Kana also using the "Yes we can!" catchphrase in the exact Obama intonation.

* ''[[Axis Powers Hetalia]]'':

** The author also drew [http://himaruya.blog61.fc2.com/blog-entry-533.html a sketch of America holding Bo], the new little puppy of the Obamas.

* Obama Mifuyu of ''[[Kurogane Pukapuka Tai]]'' is unrelated... ''probably''.

* In the 20th chapter of ''[[Sora no Otoshimono]]'', Obama cameos during the global emergency of... a zoo animal breakout.

* In the [[Tournament Arc]] of ''[[Gamble Fish]]'', Obama gets a cameo in the form of King Omaha, introduced as the hero who will turn the tide of depression in the US. Complete with the "Yes we can" catchphrase. He also nets a few moments of [[Heroic Resolve]].

 

 

* He is accepted by the fanbase to be the [[Green Lantern|natural choice of sector 2814's blue ring bearer]]. For those who don't read ''[[Green Lantern]]'', Blue Lanterns symbolize ''hope''. This all assumes the DC verse actually has an Obama, instead of the latest in its long line of various generic "president" characters however.

* And of course, on an alternate [[DCU]] Earth, he's actually [http://fullbodytransplant.files.wordpress.com/2009/02/obamadccomics1.jpg Superman.] [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vws9fTtQgz4 He wasn't kidding.]

* Obama appears in the IDW series ''[[Godzilla]]: Kingdom of Monsters'', lamenting that if dealing with a bad economy, a war, and a giant oil spill weren't bad enough, now he has a giant radioactive monster destroying Japan. As of the second issue he became "President Ogden."

* Appears as a cyborg within the ''[http://www.comicsalliance.com/2011/01/20/steampunk-palin-comic/ Steampunk Palin]'' comic book.

 

== Films -- Live-Action ==

 

 

* The 22nd running of the ''[[Ninja Warrior]]'' obstacle course had a Barack Obama impersonator, complete with the entire crowd waving handheld US flags and chanting, "Yes we can!" {{spoiler|"Obama" falls at the Jumping Spider obstacle. The announcer cries out, "No, you can't!" when he loses.}}

* In ''[[House]]'', one of the patients of the week was a young, eloquent black Senator, former community organizer and Presidential candidate. What makes that episode particularly freaky was that it first aired in April 2005, almost two years before Obama officially announced his run for the presidency, back when he was only a lowly Senator known almost solely for his speech at the 2004 Democratic Convention.

* Obama is played by Fred Armisen (who, like Obama, is of mixed origin, only Armisen is Venezuelan on his mom's side and German and Japanese on his father's side) on ''[[Saturday Night Live]]'', who, despite being white enough to regularly play Steve Jobs (or Prince [who, like Obama, is also half-black, half-white]), does the part with just a wig and some tape to make his ears stick out. These sketches seem a ''lot'' less afraid of [[Unfortunate Implications]] than most parodies, though ''SNL'' has made similar casting decisions in the past, most famously the even-whiter-than-Armisen Darrell Hammond as Jesse Jackson (with Hammond in tan make-up). [[Dwayne Johnson]] (who is Black-Canadian on his dad's side and Samoan on his mom's side) also played Barack Obama -- or to be more precise, his Incredible Hulk-esque alter ego called "The Rock" Obama, who throws anyone who angers or disagrees with him out the window of the Oval Office.

* ''[[Series/Royal Canadian Air Farce|Royal Canadian Air Farce]]'' has Alan Park playing Obama. Unlike Armisen, he has absolutely nothing in common with Obama (this is common with both him and Roger Abbott's George W Bush). They don't even try to get the voices down.

* Sketch-comedy show ''[[Little Britain USA]]'' was filmed prior to the November 2008 elections, but twice featured a serious and competent black president playing straight man to the flamboyant and bumbling Prime Minister of England.

* The two younger kids in the Britcom ''[[Outnumbered]]'' have mentioned him a few times; Ben believes that in his spare time, Obama drives a London bus ("he's the leader of the free world, he can do anything he likes"), while 7-year-old Karen is upset that he hasn't answered any of her letters and likes to add him into her drawings, usually doing something suitably awesome like riding a dragon.

* Obama has made an [http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2010/10/18/obama-mythbusters-test-archimedes-death-ray-push-promote-science/ cameo] appearance on ''[[Myth Busters]]'' in December 2010.

* Obama is the president in both of the ''[[Fringe]]'' universes. The way they introduced the alternate universe was to show a newspaper with the headline that's he taken office and then reveal that Olivia was actually standing inside one of the World Trade Centre towers. Apparently the Obama in our universe dislikes [[Colonel Badass|Broyles]]. Because Broyles beat him at golf.

* Advertisements for his campaign were implemented by Electronic Arts for updating billboards in ''[[Burnout]] Paradise'' if the player was connected online with his/her console.

* In ''[[Perfect Dark]]'', the president of the United States is a black man that bears a remarkable resemblance to Barack Obama, despite the fact that it was made [[Hilarious in Hindsight|several years before]] Obama's presidency.

 

 

== Web Comics ==

* Is a recurrent character in ''[[Sinfest]]'' as Barackstar and a superhero, among other things.

* ''The Symmetrical Breadpazoid'' has the [[No Celebrities Were Harmed]] version.

* In the ''[[Jib Jab]]'' '08 election [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=adc3MSS5Ydc&feature=fvsr animated short], Obama is shown as something akin to a Disney Princess, [[Friend to All Living Things|frolicking with cuddly forest animals]]. A [http://www.youtube.com/user/JibJab#p/u/31/kVFdAJRVm94 later video] portrays him as a superhero.

* Given ''[[The Salvation War]]'' is an [[Alternate History]] which branches off from the real world in early 2008, it's not the least bit surprising to see Barack Obama as the US President in the second book, ''Pantheocide''.

 

 

== Western Animation ==

* In ''[[Metalocalypse]]'' Episode "Dethhealth", Murderface has a series of hallucinations, one of which is a very brief, few-seconds long shot of President Obama standing outside the White House.

* ''[[The Boondocks]]'' has a decidedly negative depiction of the president. Since the season 3 premiere, he has been depicted as an [[Obstructive Bureaucrat]] whose long and inspiring speeches do nothing in the face of uncertain times.

* In the ''[[Family Guy]]'' episode "New Kidney in Town", Obama visits Quahog, and Chris' entire English class is assigned to write an essay about hope. Chris uses things he heard from Meg to write his essay, and he's selected to read it to introduce Obama. Chris and Meg eventually read the speech together. After that, Obama appears dressed like [[Bye Bye Birdie|Conrad Birdie]] and performs the song "Honestly Sincere".

* Barack Obama also appears in ''[[The Cleveland Show]]'', challenging Cleveland to a game of basketball. {{spoiler|And winning handily.}}

'''Secret Service Man:''' Sir, we really have to go.<br />

'''Obama:''' Uh, one moment. I can also call my Secretary of Defense... because I am the ''bomb''. Wheels up! }}

 

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