AP: Obama: Full-on geek or just 'nerd-adjacent?' Some experts contend PE too cool, too athletic, too

[Pirate Smile]

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Obama: Full-on geek or just 'nerd-adjacent?'
Some experts contend President-elect too cool, too athletic, too normal


A poster of US President-elect Barack Obama as Superman on Melrose Avenue in Los Angeles, California, one day after Barack Obama won the presidential election.

WASHINGTON - Get ready for the geek-in-chief.
President-elect Barack Obama used to collect comic books, can't part with his BlackBerry, and once flashed Leonard "Mr. Spock" Nimoy the Vulcan "Live Long and Prosper" sign.
That and other evidence has convinced some of Obama's nerdier fans that he'll be the first American president to show distinct signs of geekiness. And that's got them as excited as a Tribble around a Klingon.

-snip-
Others see only some geek qualities, qualifying the president-elect as merely "nerd-adjacent." After all, he's an athlete and kind of cool, some experts demur. Still, there's enough there for geeks to celebrate.
Psychology professor Larry Welkowitz of Keene State College in New Hampshire hopefully speculated that there's a shift in what's cool and that "smart can be in. Maybe that started with the computer programmers of the '90s. The Bill Gateses of the world are OK."

The Obama transition team would not comment on the president-elect's geek qualities, even when it was suggested those could be positive. And his old college friends give the geek idea a split vote. While Margot Mifflin, now a journalism professor in New York, said she saw no geeky signs in Obama as a freshman at Occidental College in California, Amiekoleh Kimbrew Usafi recalled it differently, despite the lack of technology back in 1979.
"He's a geek because he was smart," Usafi said, noting that Occidental was a geeky school to start with, billing itself as the Yale of the West. "I remember he would be hitting his books. I would see him in the library. ... There were a lot of girls that liked him because he was cute, but he kept his head in the direction he was going in. I would see him studying all the time."


Barack Obama watches a campaign rally video on a laptop during a flight from Washington to New Orleans on Feb. 6.

Wired magazine first crowed about Obama the geek, complete with five reasons in its GeekDad blog. A lot depends on definition of geek, which to Wired is more a compliment than insult.
GeekDad contributor Matt Blum, a software engineer in Reston, Va., defines geeks as having high intellects, embracing technology, "getting excited about things in the future especially, particularly fiction," having a science viewpoint and being steeped in the geek culture of science fiction and fantasy.

...
So a quick geek cultural check for Obama:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/28390800/

[boppers]

1. Premise is broken.

Athleticism has nothing to do with geekiness, I know lots of rock-climbing geeks, bicycle geeks, weight-lifting geeks (they refer to it as "grinding" or "leveling up"), and especially martial-arts geeks.

Where the premise comes from, I think, is that "geeks" aren't in sports in an attempt to be cool, to impress people, or to be in the "in-crowd"... so sport-o types (dating myself, here) don't quite get where the geeks are coming from, and do things like duct-tape their butts.

[backscatter712]

12. I've known quite a few athletic geeks.

Some of them went into martial arts (I went into martial arts myself for a time, but never was particularly good at it.) A few of them got into Ultimate Frisbee, and got hardcore and play competitively.

And this geek has been known to spend time at the gym from time to time.

[Triana]

2. Geek, nerd, athletic....

...brilliant, handsome....nothing bad in any of that. I LOVE that change from the bassackwards nincompoop we've had to endure for the past 8 years.

[babylonsister]

3. Rec'd for the geek, the thinker, the man, and everyone who relates to

him. THAT is what is important imo.

[busybl]

4. if he's what geeks are like now

sign me up for one.

[boppers]

5. Ahem.

http://blog.wired.com/geekdad/2008/10/50-reasons-to-d.html

[snowbear]

6. I read today that one thing he LOVES to do is to play Scrabble....

.
.

And that he's super competitive when he's playing it.. I read both the new Times "Person of the Year" magazine as well as the new Rolling Stone Commemorative issue, so it was in one of those..

I'd love to see him play scrabble! ...I'll bet he could kick my ass at it!

[Tarheel_Dem]

8. Larissa, I love your sig line. (nt)

[Tarheel_Dem]

7. Call it whatever you like, this guy has it all. I'm so excited for the youth

once again having a role model, someone to look up to; and hopefully not be concerned that being smart and studious is a bad thing. I am especially hopeful that young AA men will want to emulate the new President.

[Lisa0825]

9. When I was in high school and college.....

I didn't do the whole "clique" thing. I had friends who were geeks, stoners, jocks, socials, headbangers, goths, etc. That's how I see Obama... he has such a well-rounded personality that he can be identified with a number of "types." Geeks want to claim him, jocks want to claim him, everybody wants to say he's one of us.

[Shiver]

15. I always referred to people like that (myself included) as 'drifters'

We could drift from one clique to the next and fit right in, but not really 'belong' to any of them. I think this was mainly because there was no real goth subculture at my school, aside from me and two people I really didn't like.

[blogslut]

10. I seriously loves me some Obama

Whereas I believe he is cool, jocky and geeky, ultimately, he's kind of a dork. Dorks can be hot, Obama is proof!

[MrSlayer]

11. Cool is cool. There are cool people in every social sect or faction.

I always got along with everyone. When I was a teen I played hockey, I played in Metal bands and I played D&D. I ran in the streets and I hung at the library. I've tripped with preps and passed communal bongs with Deadheads in impromptu smoke and drum circles. I've been given Ghetto Passes in some of the worst neighborhoods and been given V.I.P. passes for political events.

I suppose my point is that you can't pigeonhole people. Sure, the stereotypes are stereotypes for a reason but there are people that transcend the typical definitions that society places on them. People are far more diverse than we are led to believe.

[Doctor_J]

18. Interesting pic from Warriors

I finally saw that movie recently. Overrated.

[MrSlayer]

23. It's one of those "You had to be there" things.

To get the true impact of the film you had to be there when it was released. It's a cult classic for my generation.

[Doctor_J]

25. I am a big fan of Thomas G. Waites

and Tom Waites, for that matter. One of the reasons I watched the film was to see early work of Tom G, but he was hardly in it.

[MrSlayer]

26. Yes, well he walked off the film and his character had to be killed off.

He played Fox, and while not the star, he did get some face time.

[trumad]

13. A Geek who an make a 3-point shot at will....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j87k1j4CpOw

[stevenleser]

14. The fact that any legitimate news agency even used these labels in a serious context is sickening

I am beyond words, and for me that says a lot.

[Posteritatis]

17. Isn't watching journalists pretend they grok subcultures *fun*?

Though I do admit it'd probably be amusing to see the email that reporter gets over that article. ("So Obama's nerdier fans are less excited but more anticipating the orbital bombardment of their homeworld?")

[RichGirl]

16. The mistake is in putting Obama in any catagory.

He is in a class by himself.

[Political Heretic]

19. Yay stereotypes!

[AtomicKitten]

20. Flashing signs is a dead giveaway.

[fortyfeetunder]

21. Revenge of the Nerds - White House Style!

Sounds like the makings of a new movie!

[AzNick]

22. Some even say "too black" but hey...

Screw them

[Odin2005]

24. Geek is Chic nowdays. n/t

[AnnieBW]

27. Revenge of the Nerds!

After eight years of a preppie frat boy in the White House, it's time for the Nerds to take over!

Riot Nrrrd

[Frank Booth]

28. Doesn't this answer the question?

[AZBlue]

29. He's a hot straight nerd. Almost as rare as the hot gay nerd.