Grayson P. WolfeGrayson Wolfe is a Partner at Akkadian. He previously served as Director of Broader Middle East Initiatives and Iraqi Reconstruction and Special Assistant to the Chief Operating Officer at the Export-Import Bank of the United States. He was appointed to the bank by President Bush in June 2002. Between January and August 2004, Wolfe served as Manager of the Private Sector Development Office of the Coalition Provisional Authority in Baghdad, Iraq. In this capacity he was directly responsible for implementing a wide range of initiatives to attract foreign direct investment and provide financing to Iraqi companies. During this time, Wolfe worked extensively on the ground with senior Iraqi and Kurdish officials, and with the Ministries of Finance, Trade and Oil.
From 2001 to 2002 Wolfe worked as an attorney for the law firm of Fleischman and Walsh, LLP, where he represented clients engaged in Homeland Security, Telecommunications and Intellectual Property matters. He served as a member of a seven-person team that worked with the North American Railroads and Chlorine Chemical Industries to develop a National Homeland Security Risk Analysis and Management Plan. This plan was adopted by the Class I Freight Railroad CEOs on Dec 6, 2001. Wolfe served as Legislative Director and Counsel for members of Congress from 1999-2002. He has also served in numerous positions in presidential, federal and state political campaigns. Before this, he worked for Citicorp in Poland focusing on emerging markets and franchise development opportunities in Central and Eastern European countries.
and speaking of Akkadian...
Beyond the idea of an icon: President Obama is a media figure and public idol like no other President before him. This fact says much about newscasters, but it says even more about many Americans.
Egyptian pharaohs were considered very important gods in their culture; in 44 B.C., Julius Caesar erected a statue of himself with the inscription, "The unvanquished god"; and in the mid 2200s B.C., King Narim-Sin of the Akkadian Empire was known as "the god of Agade."
But today, in the United States, most feel very much removed from such things. Why, our first president, George Washington, not only wouldn't deify himself, he wouldn't even accept an offer of kingship. Yet, also today, we see something very different. We see a man being referred to as "the messiah" and "the One," a man around whom a seemingly unprecedented cult of personality has arisen. That man is, of course, Barack Obama.
Yet, the scope of the negative reaction to the speech is not explained by such defects. In point of fact, traditionalists would agree with much of its substance, as Obama stressed accountability, warning students that all was for naught unless they studied hard and listened to authority figures. Rather, what apparently raised alarm were the lesson plans initially meant to accompany the speech (which, owing to the controversy, were later revised). They involved having students write letters to themselves, explaining how they could "help the president," and the materials asked questions such as "What is the president trying to tell me?" "What is the president asking me to do?" and "What is President Obama inspiring you to do?" The president-this, the president-that ... it again smacks of that cult of personality. In fact, one gets the feeling that if Obama had a version of a certain famous John E Kennedy line, it would be, "Ask not what your president can do for you; ask what you can do for your president."
Even this, though, doesn't fully explain the spasm of anxiety induced by his speech. After all, while such a focus on the chief executive would always inspire criticism, it could be chalked up to a misstep by the Department of Education (which issued the lesson plans) or, at worst, a self-centeredness not at all unknown in politicians. But with Barack Obama, the focus is often viewed quite differently. Remember that this is the man who had transfixed youth like no president in memory, bringing them to the polls like a pied piper; the man at whose feet people would faint at campaign rallies as if they were slain in the spirit; the man who, unlike any president before, was described in messianic terms.
Yet, are those who fear Obama just paranoid?
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