xparrot | I need an icon

So I might as well cop to it, I've got a new fandom. One I've been resisting for over a year now, because while many of my friends were into it, and it had a lot of potential, I wasn't sure how it was going to turn out, and I always get depressed when a favorite series gets canceled. But since as of last Tuesday it was contracted for a good four years, and it might get renewed for another four after that, I've gone and given in. So, yes, chalk me up as yet another of those crazy Obama fangirls. I'm a Barack/Michelle shipper, but USA/Hope is my OTP.

Currently I'm reading Newsweek's campaign tell-all, fascinating stuff. One of the things that makes me so interested in Obama is how self-aware he is:

Obama understood that he had become a giant screen upon which Americans projected their hopes and fears, dreams and frustrations. Maybe such a person never really existed, couldn't exist, but people wanted a savior nonetheless. As a bestselling memoirist he had created a mythic figure, a man named Barack Obama who had searched and quested and overcome travails, who had found an identity and a calling in public service. Obama recalled that he often joked with his team, "This Barack Obama sounds like a great guy. Now I'm not sure that I am Barack Obama, right?" He added, pointedly, "It wasn't entirely a joke." [from here]

The man understands his own hype, and recognizes it for what it is. He's a psychological writer, and he analyzes himself as much or more than others. (I really need to get hold of Dreams from My Father, sounds fascinating.) As described he comes across as, if not quite an introvert, than a hell of a lot less of an extrovert than most politicians. He's also, apparently, a true-blue nerd, and it kinda disturbs me how much I want this anecdote to be true. Just - yes! The geek will inherit the earth!

Not to mention, he doesn't just speechify about "family values," he lives them. Adorable, or adorable? *squee*!

To think, after all this time avoiding bandom and LOTRiPS and David Cook, I'm done in by a politician with big ears. What a world!