Obama looked good as Washington on this New Yorker cover. He has been compared to Geroge Washinton, Abraham Lincoln, JFK, James Madison, and many others. Obama is the receiver of projections. Jung called this talent for serving as the canvas for others to paint on, numinosity. This makes him very special, and beloved of millions in America and around the globe. From Shepard Fairey's famous Hope and Progress poster art, to a myriad of street artists and journalists, Obama has received the projections of hope and excitement from the collective well of the consciousness of the new millennium. One could say without exaggeration that President Barack Obama is the archetype of these changing times, with all the good and ill which that implies; the Hegelian hero, seizing the kairos, that moment where all seems possible again, where "everthing is new and yielding"; where things reach the apex and reversal, and a new era is born within the baptism of fire.
Of course he has also served as the slate on which paranoia and suspicion are holding a rendezvous with bigotry and hatred. There is always the underside, and the human shadow will also have its dark contents come to expression. Fears of facism, socialism, covert ties to Islam and terrorists and a mysterious birth and fatherhood: These have also been projected onto him. But thus far, he has received all in that elegant and understated way which distinguishes him in all things.
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