Much news has been made about Barack Obama being America's first black president. But few people realize that the REAL first is much more relevant: Barack Obama is America's first Trekkie president.
I first stumbled across this astounding fact when I was listening to a rerun of the NPR show "Wait Wait Don't Tell Me" which featured a lengthy interview with Leonard Nimoy. Nimoy mentioned that he happened to walk through a hotel which was holding a rally for Obama's candidacy. Obama spotted Nimoy as he crossed the lobby, and - unbidden - grinned and flashed Nimoy the Vulcan hand signal.
A little bit of digging turns up further evidence of Obama's Trek credentials. Last March during a rally in Wyoming, Obama is quoted as saying, "I grew up on Star Trek. I believe in the final frontier." This quote was said in the context of a discussion about NASA and America's space program, but I think the conclusion is obvious.
For more than 20 years, faithful Trekkies have daydreamed about the time when real life could begin to resemble Star Trek. From television's first inter-racial kiss, to the consistently multi-cultural Enterprise crew, through to Captain Picard's level headed diplomacy, Star Trek has given us a picture of a wonderful world. A world where racial and gender equality are incorporated seamlessly into everyday life. Where strangers are neither tortured, nor oppressed by a technologically superior culture. A world where the people in charge would do anything to prevent a war.
A world where rational, fact-based diplomacy saves the day.