What Republicans Can Learn From "The Wrath of Khan"

Much to Khan's surprise, James T. Kirk is still alive.  But now our wily Admiral must now lure Khan into the abyss - in this case, a nebula which will render Khan's ship as vulnerable as the Enterprise - in order to end his madness.

How does Kirk accomplish this?  By needling the self-absorbed, vain, and self-congratulatory Khan where it hurts:


Laughing at the Superior Intellect

Once his genetically-engineered intelligence is insulted, Khan's upper lip curls with fury, and orders his ship to follow Kirk's into the nebula.

Khan:  "Full impulse power!"
Joachim:  "No sir! We have Genesis -- Whatever you want --"
Khan:  "Full power....damn you!"


Unable to compete with Kirk on this new, equalizing battleground, Khan is defeated, his dream of destroying Kirk dying along with him.

Watching this for the umpteenth time, I oft thought of the uneven playing field the two political parties wage war on. The Republicans are vilified, investigated, and blatantly lied about on the front pages of every national (and many local) dailies, while the Democrats are idolized and lionized, with their many misdeeds covered up willing by the media.

I have no doubt with the media filter out of the way, the voters would clearly see the fascist-masked-as-intellectualism face of Barack Obama and the Democratic party. But we need to lure Barack Obama out into the open, and goad him into showing his true face before the cameras, one that the media can spin but not hide, as Republicans play his implosion over and over...

How can it be done? Well, all the candidates have attacked Obama's policies as wrong, but have simply portrayed them as bad choices. What if Obama was called out not on his "mistakes", but on his sheer lack of intellectual heft? What would Barack Obama's reaction be if -  in public, face to face -  an opposing candidate, after tearing down an Obama policy/proposal, used Kirk's line above: "Hey Obama...I am laughing at the 'superior intellect'"?


Pattern Indicates Two Dimensional...

My guess? Obama would bite his upper lip and go wild. Thus demonstrating his lack of character, his mediocre intelligence, and his proto-fascist bent.

Not sure how this could be accomplished...it might have to wait until a one-on-one debate, with no one but a moderator to save Obama from himself. But look at how Newt Gingrich's approval has soared, not just with Republicans but with the nation at large. Could it be because he's the only candidate not afraid to say the emperor has no clothes? To pretend that a naked man has simply worn the wrong outfit to the party is not what it will take to win the election in 2012.

There's a powerful weapon waiting for the man with enough courage to use it. James T. Kirk had the fortitude to mock intellectual pretension, and it wound up saving the lives of everybody aboard the Enterprise (not to mention his own flagging career). Is there a Republican version of our beloved Captain out there, ready to lead Obama into the intellectual abyss, where he will be exposed once and for all?

For the sake of our nation, there had better be.