Kenneth Yamaoka and Barack Obama

A few winters ago I was in San Diego and hanging out with some friends. One of my friends needed to go to a comic book store, and so I spent a little time wandering around and looking at toys and stuff. On one of the shelves was a few of the books for a 5-book manga series called Eagle: The Making of an Asian American President. I looked at it for a little bit, but didn’t make the purchase at the time. I went back to Ithaca and re-thought my decision, and started ordering the books from Barnes and Noble. I had read a little bit on the internet. The series was written by a Japanese national who clearly has an awareness of the American political proces and the politics of American culture. I got my books in no particular order…kinda whatever order they could be located in. I read them really quickly…I hate to read books, and while I realize that these are “picture books”, I was impressed that I could finish them in a few nights. I also kinda wanted to stay up to read. There was no “good” place to stop because I wanted to know what happened next. Like I said, I read these a few years ago. At the time, I was encouraging friends to read them and borrow the series. A few people took me up on the offer, and I was able to get them all back to make the trip back to San Diego with me. With the upcoming election and historic candidacy of Barack Obama, I was reminded of the series. I’m not sure, but I had kinda thought that the author of Eagle was supposing that an Asian American would be the first American president of color. His president, Kenneth Yamaoka, was an American former soldier who during his experience in war became determined to become president. And it all becomes convoluted from there. He marries a white woman from a wealthy and powerful family…and it seems strange that as the story unfolds every life-decision he makes is towards this goal. I doubt Barack Obama’s path was quite so intentional. But perhaps that’s better. It’s not that Kenneth Yamaoka didn’t come across as sincere, but it seems to me that perhaps Obama’s candidacy is more sincere and noble. Life decisions were made regarding his heart and perhaps independently from his career decisions. But it makes me wonder, from time to time, what all is going on behind the scenes. The kind of strength of character that a person has to have to stay true to themselves but gain favor of those with different levels of power who have their own interests in mind while being strategic is beyond my comprehension. And perhaps that’s what I found so amazing about Kenneth Yamaoka. In the world of fiction that the series was written, his desire to stick to his goals and noble ideas and make decisions strategically were fascinating. Anyhow…in the spirit of patriotism, I think people should read the series. If you’re in the San Diego area, you can borrow my copy. And remember to vote. Every one counts.