With his death, Osama bin Laden's name and story will forever be correlated with that of Barack Obama.
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| Osama bin Laden's death will forever be linked with Obama's name [GALLO/GETTY] |
Obama and Osama. Two names that will henceforth be coupled. The hunter, Obama, is leader of the most powerful and feared nation on earth.
Osama, the hunted, was leader of a borderless state – a non-state actor – and probably the most feared religio-political association of the modern world since the rise of the Ismaili Hashashin assassins between the 11th and 13th centuries.
Obama and Osama may rhyme, but that is not their only correlation.
The Pygmalion syndrome
A Pygmalion resides in both of them. They are, to an extent, sculptors. In turn, these two sculptors, Obama and Osama, are examples of how extraordinary men – when struck by the power of ideas, ideals and dreams, regardless of the cause – go on about sculpting their Galateas – their statues, dummies or puppets.
Each is in love with a statuesque vision, a set of ideals or dreams that they have sought to breathe life into. Otherwise, how can one explain why a man who could have nymphs, Bentleys, yachts, and everything money can buy opts for the "illusionary" – to paraphrase Marx – rewards of the hereafter?
