Is Obama a Vulcan? Newsweek isn't prepared to go quite that far. But it is willing to entertain the notion that there might be some real similarities between Mr. Spock and the new president. There are the prominent ears and the racially mixed background. And like his Vulcan counterpart, Obama seems at times almost inhumanly calm and logical. To top it off, Obama himself admitted during the campaign that he grew up on Star Trek and believes in the final frontier.
All in all, the newsweekly suggests it's an uncanny match and may prove one factor in making the new Star Trek reboot surprisingly cool and timely -- timely enough to make the May 4th cover of Newsweek, in any case. And it doesn't stop there. In addition to pondering how well the Vulcan connection positions Trek in the zeitgeist, this week's issue also reviews the status of the franchise, and the promise of rejuvenation that J.J. Abrams' new vision offers.