Obama as the white whale, but who is Ahab?

I am reading Moby Dick for the third time right now. Since the value of a novel is often found in its interpretations, I am going to apply a modern one to a classic. Of course Melville could never have foreseen the tea party and the anger of people when their illusions of America were revealed to be 1950´s fantasies, all the same Moby Dick fits the current discourse really well.

I begin then with Obama as the white whale. This isn´t too hard. He is different from all the other previous whales that the whalers have hunted. Rumours surround his presence in different parts of the world. He is thought to be a destroyer by some. However, since he has appeared he has been gaining a name and a reputation. When he reached his peak, the election or in the book the first fight with Ahab, he changed everything. That brings us to Ahab. He is none other than Dick Cheney. A man with a limited vision of reality who is so possessed with his need for revenge for what he considers a purposeful attack on himself. This attack on Ahab I translate as the American people voting the neo-cons out. Cheney cannot let go of the whole thing and so he is able to bring others to the same fanatical point of rage (the tea party or nowadays most of the republican party). He tells them they have to get the White Whale. The ship always has been and always will be America. Cheney, as Ahab, is willing to take the ship (America) down with all hands rather than see it not doing his will.

Ok so this is all just for fun. But what drives a maniac like Cheney or Ahab? Their wounded pride?
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