If there's one thing I've learned from discussing politics in mixed company, it's that you have to learn to pick your battles. Not every point needs to be argued, and some issues are dragged into the political arena don't deserve to be made political.
One such issue came up recently as Marvel Comics announced an upcoming issue of The Amazing Spider-Man would feature President-Elect Barack Obama. The reason for this is because Obama collected Spider-Man comics as a child and Marvel Comics Editor-in-Chief Joe Quesada thought it would be a good idea to put Obama in a comic that the President-Elect used to collect. Of course, this enraged some members of the conservative side, saying that Marvel Comics is becoming increasingly anti-American, as the company recently killed off Captain America.
Okay, everybody take a step back and take a deep breath. It's a comic book! So what if Obama is hanging out with Spider-Man. Given some of the characters that he's been known to hang out with (say, William Ayers), Spidey would be a step up. Not to mention, at the heart of Quesada's decision, there is no political motivation. Why wouldn't the company that created Spider-Man and continues to publish his exploits want to take an opportunity to recognize that the most powerful man in the world is a fan? They'd be fools if they didn't consider doing something like this.
As for the conservatives who are upset at Marvel Comics for this action, just calm down. This isn't an attempt to indoctrinate children to worshipping Obama. That's the job of the public education system. Besides, there are plenty of other issues on which Obama can be criticized. Why waste time and energy on criticizing something so ultimately insignificant? The fact Obama's thinking about starting up talks with Hamas seems to me a bit more important than Obama giving Spidey a fist bump in a comic book.
Pick your battles, folks.
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I used to love comic books - and as I recall, long ago, DC Comics had Superman either doing something for President Kennedy, or him into the plot line. I'm pretty sure that throught WWII, Hitler was the subject of more than one comic book plot. So this is hardly unprecedented.
Of course, the difference is NOW that back then, the bad guys were the bad guys. Today, they seem to be the "misunderstood" guys. That's a trend that's a little more bothersome than a public figure getting a shout out.
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