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Iconography of Obama

Justin Webb | 19:16 UK time, Monday, 19 January 2009

They were selling Obama condoms after the Lincoln Memorial event last night. Today in Georgetown there is an exhibition of Obama paintings and posters - the iconography putting me in mind of religious art. I say this not to be sour, in fact the opposite: this is big.

In fact, there is a real risk that the media, far from over-emphasising the impact of the coming of Obama, tend to underplay it, assuming it is, at heart, just another transfer of power, when it is, arguably, something else entirely.

I was reading the other day that someone (Norman Mailer?) called JFK the "edge of mystery" - the point being made that the same could be said of O.

Meanwhile, a man who relies on many good books rather than one for his inspiration and education is being given . What strikes me about this list is its hesitancy in the pursuit of Western values. To many, this will be a good thing, a necessary corrective.

But I wonder whether Natan Sharansky's The Case for Democracy - Bush's favourite book and a worthy presidential reader - might eventually be sought out by this president as he comes face to face with those who (still) burn American flags and regard Americans as scum...

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