Democrat Wu Warns of Klingons in the White House

Oregon Democrat David Wu put Klingons in the news this week when he compared the Bush Administration to the Star Trek villains.

"There are Klingons in the White House [but] unlike the real Klingons from Star Trek, these Klingons have never fought a battle of their own," Wu told Congress. Wonkette has a video clip from YouTube of Wu's speech, in which he condemns President George Bush for failing to listen to the American people or to Congress when it comes to the war in Iraq. "Don't let faux Klingons send real Americans to war," Wu said.

The Chicago Sun-Times added that Wu had said the President of the United States listened to "the so-called Vulcans in the White House", but his advisors made decisions based on ideology rather than logic. The Bush Administration's "Vulcans" as discussed in the book The Rise of the Vulcans were named not after Star Trek's aliens, but the ancient god of the forge.

Los Angeles' KOIN News 6 reported that conservative pundits like Rush Limbaugh had objected to Wu's speech. Wu himself said that he is a longtime Star Trek fan used the comparison to express frustration with the situation in Iraq.

Oregon Live has an interview with Wu, joking that he may have a second career as a speaker at Star Trek conventions and noting that he claims to like all of the sequel series, though some of his detractors have called his remarks juvenile. The paper also interviewed Judith Barad, a philosophy professor at Indiana State University who wrote The Ethics of Star Trek.

"It might sound silly to people who loathe Star Trek or are indifferent to it, but I do think science fiction is a good way for society to get a better perspective and to learn what to do in a moral predicament," Barad said. "We could see the role of leaders reflected in Star Trek characters."

However, Barad said she thought a comparison between the Bush administration and the Cardassians would have been more apt: "Klingons look out for each other, and it certainly doesn't seem like the president is looking out for our troops," she explained. The Cardassians, however, "were not as concerned with honor as the Klingons were."

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