Obama's not the only one

For those of you unfamiliar with the scope of my dissertation, a lot of what I write about concerns the power of representation - the depth of cultural meaning that fictional versions of real-life actors can be imbued with in the public conciousness. And, based on this campaign season so far, it seems as if I'm not the only one with the power of representation on the brain. I've written several times about Barack Obama's representational efforts (remember the Brandenburg Gate and the faux presidential seal?), but a recent article in the New York Times points out that it's not just Obama who's trying the mantle of most powerful man in the free world on for size.

In all fairness, I have to acknowledge that McCain has a case of Pennsylvania Avenue envy, too. But I still believe in my heart of hearts that Obama has it much worse. My evidence? Little (Freudian?) slips like the one Obama made last week and which the NYT handily parses for us:

It did not go un-snickered upon within the McCain campaign, for instance, when Mr.
Obama said Wednesday that he wanted to acquaint himself with foreign leaders “who I expect to be dealing with over the next 8 to 10 years.” Not only did Mr. Obama seem to be assuming victory in November but also re-election in 2012 and, for good measure, the option to extend a second term by two years.

I can forgive him the grammatical error (not "who I expect to be dealing with" but "with whom I expect to be dealing" - must I be the grammar police for the world?), but I'm not sure I can forgive him the naked presumption. It's just unseemly.