How Star Trek Helped Boost Obama Into Orbit

If Barack Obama can claim political star power, perhaps Star Trek has had something to do with it.

I am surprised that no one has seemingly mentioned it. For anyone who is or was a Star Trek fan, the character Seven of Nine, who appeared in the third instantiation of the series, is simply unforgettable.

Played by the actress, Jeri Ryan, the hyper-curvaceous half alien/half human, like Barack Obama himself, had problems in finding and articulating an integral identity.

But to the point: Jeri Ryan had been married to former Goldman Sachs millionaire, Jack Ryan, who faced off in the 2004 Illinois senate race against Obama. During the race, court records, documenting the Ryans' earlier divorce, were made public at the prompting of the press. Among the proceedings were salacious allegations by Ms. Ryan that her husband took her to strip clubs around the world and insisted that she engage in public sexual activity, which she refused.

These revelations summarily ditched Jack Ryan's senatorial aspirations. The Republican party quickly replaced him with the irrepressible, but hapless, Alan Keyes, whom Barack Obama handily defeated for the senate seat, thus positioning him for launch into the presidential race.

It is likely that Obama would have defeated Ryan in any event, but no one, including Barack Obama, could be certain. Nor can we be certain, if Obama wins the White House this November, to what extent Star Trek would be a factor in that victory.