XCity – City University Journalism Department Magazine 2010

MYTH-O-RAMA

Obama’s mythical forebears from antiquity – can he learn from the classics?
By Duncan Brown

On Being Set A Seemingly Impossible Task

Obama has inherited a financial crisis which is the result of years of mismanagement. The fifth of Heracles’ Twelve Labours was to clean the stables where King Augeas kept his livestock. Since the cattle were a divine gift they were immune to disease, so the stables had never been cleaned. Augeas promised Heracles one tenth of his cattle if the hero could accomplish the feat in one day. Sound like Obama mucking out the Bush years? What happened next: Heracles, who realised that he couldn’t accomplish the task on his own, diverted two rivers to flush out the stables. Obama will need to turn the force of public and political feeling to his advantage if he is to have resources for tackling the problem.

On Being a Purveyor of Hope

Pandora (meaning ‘many gifts’) was created by chief god Zeus in order to punish mankind. She came to earth carrying a sealed jar which she was forbidden to open. However, her curiosity got the better of her and she looked inside. Out flew, according to the poet Hesiod, “burdensome toil and sickness that brings death to men”. Pandora quickly shut it, inadvertently sealing in hope at the bottom. The world entered an eon of terrible bleakness, until the box was reopened and hope allowed to flutter out. Doesn’t sound like Obama has ever had this problem? What happened next: Some commentators say that it was a good thing hope was kept back, as the possibility for a better world would have made mankind’s dire situation seem all the worse. Has Obama made promises he can’t deliver on?

On Becoming King

Obama is arguably the most powerful man in the world, but now he’s up there he’s got a long way to fall. Oedipus Rex tells the story of a man who is hailed as a hero and made King of Thebes after he rids the city of its malevolent gatekeeper, the Sphinx. He marries the Queen, Jocasta, and rules a prosperous city. Sounds more like it? What happened next: Oedipus realised that Jocasta was his mother and, insane with grief, put out his own eyes. Let’s hope this doesn’t happen to Obama.

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