The St. Louis Dispatch runs an excellent commentary about about Entertainment Weekly’s recent interview with Presidential candidates Barack Obama and John McCain.  In the EW interview both candidates chose Batman as the super hero they’d most like to be.

In it the author Jonathan Keim dissects what makes Batman tick.  He is in fact a vigilante who works outside of the law.  He would be the first to ignore the Constitution and the rights it entails, but also does have a moral code and line of which he won’t cross.  McCain sites Batman’s fight for justice against the odds while Obama mentions his humanness (he also likes Spiderman for the same reason).  Both candidates admire a character for two different reasons.

Is this the comic book hero to admire though?  As mentioned above, he works outside the law in an almost Machiavellian way.  His is the law and enforcement we know exists but choose to ignore until it affects us.  President Bush’s expansion of FISA, and the trampling of our Constitutional rights and due process are the real world equivalent of a masked vigilante.  Both candidates endorse the FISA program.

Is there a better super hero to admire?  One with god like powers who chooses not to abuse them?  One that follows the law?  One who shows human frailties?  Green Lantern might be a better choice, maybe Superman.

My choice would be Captain America, a man who defends his country when needed and questions it when it’s wrong.  A person who served his nation and inspired people not just in comics, but the real world, to serve as well.  And in the comics world, stood up against it’s equivalent of FISA and National ID cards.  Spiderman didn’t even do that.

Maybe the real answer from the candidates required even less thought and was whatever comic book movie was playing in the theater that month….