Of course it’s an unfair comparison, because he’s not a megalomaniacal leader with a nation groaning under the iron heel of a murderous personality cult, but I was reminded of those North Korean news releases that describe how Dear Leader invented a new smelting technique before lunch, then created a hybrid rose before coming up with a startling theory on cosmology. A Man of Science!

With the economy still sputtering, his approval ratings slipping and the mid-term elections looming, President Barack Obama certainly has enough on his plate. But he surprisingly found time to appear on the December 8 episode of Discovery Channel’s series Mythbusters.
In the episode, Archimedes Solar Ray, Obama challenges hosts Adam Savage and Jamie Hyneman to prove the ancient Greek myth that scientist and polymath Archimedes set fire to an invading Roman fleet using only mirrors and the reflected rays of the sun? I wonder if he is planning to use the knowledge against the GOP fleet that is threatening the Democratic majority in the upcoming November elections.

If he was appearing on a documentary about the last two years called Mythbusted, it might make more sense. Who knows: perhaps this question has nagged him for years.

“Yes, Michelle, I know, I promised not to bring it up at the dinner table again. But think about it. We know very little about their mirror technology, but the relics we’ve found suggest highly polished metal was used, not the modern form, which uses silvered glass. Hell, metal-backed glass mirrors didn’t appear until the first century AD, 300 years later. So he was using copper shields, all precisely focused? I can’t buy it. The historian in me loves the story, but the ruthless empiricist in me demands the truth. Some day when I have more power — whatever form that may take — I will use my influence to get to the bottom of this matter.”

Yes, dear. Pass the sprouts.