The many faces of Barack Obama

For the past few months, the media has been busy comparing Obama with various notable presidents of the past — Abraham Lincoln, Franklin D. Roosevelt, etc. I wonder if our new president is taking these comparisons seriously.

Scene: The Oval Office. Hillary Clinton and Joe Biden are discussing Obama.

"I'm worried," Hillary says. "I think he's actually beginning to believe all this hoopla the media is saying about him. Every day he seems to have a new persona."

"I know," Biden agrees. "Here he comes. Wonder who he'll be this time?"

Obama enters the Oval Office in a wheelchair. He wears a pair of pince-nez glasses, smokes a cigarette in a long filter and thrusts his chin forward aggressively.

"My friends," he says, "this morning I received some rather unpleasant news. All the banks in the country have gone broke. The money changers have fled from their high places in the temple. This is a day that will live in infamy."

"You're right, Mr. President. The country is in awful shape."

"But remember: we have nothing to fear but fear itself. I'm creating some new agencies to handle the problem: the AAA, the WPA and the PTA. Next, I'll send my wife Eleanor — I mean Michelle — around the country to cheer people up."

"Sounds good, Mr. President."

"Meanwhile, get my private railroad car ready. I'm planning a trip to Warm Springs, Georgia. And don't forget to bring along my stamp collection."

"This is getting serous," Hillary says next day. "Yesterday, he was convinced he was Roosevelt. Today, he thinks he's Lincoln. He's going around the White House telling anecdotes like Lincoln used to do. And he began his inaugural address with the words 'Eleven Score and thirteen years ago.' And this morning I saw him splitting logs on the White House lawn."...