Dr. Strangelove, Herman Kahn, Barack Obama, King Kong, and a Giant Exploding Phallus

Here's what I think. Dr. Strangelove is Herman Kahn. No doubt in my mind on that one. What tipped me off to this representation was Charles Maland's list of concerns that Kahn wrote about, specifically "the large likelihood of vomiting post war fallout shelter." Dr. Strangelove's plan to save so many attractive women (in comparison to men) to allow for ample fertilization is certainly taking possible world abomination and using it as an excuse to give himself plenty of babes to choose from, but Kubrick mainly includes it because it's rational. In a world dominated by the threat of nuclear attack, both vomit and repopulation are serious concerns to have.

Focusing just on Kahn, it sounds like he was extremely rational. But we can't help but laugh at the tedious nature of his speculation, which encompassed even bodily fluids (this brings to mind the numerous jives by Kubrick at the importance of bodily fluids). The shear humor of Kahn's speculation proves to me just how intense the 70s were -- just how real the threat of nuclear warfare must have felt at the time. On that note, it's strange to me that our sense of threat level has dropped so drastically. We may have tamed Russia, but shouldn't we be even more concerned that "Rogue" nations like Iran and North Korea might possess the means to blow up the earth?

Obama pinpointed the irony in a speech in Prague last spring, noting that "in a strange turn of history, the threat of global war has gone down, but the risk of a nuclear attack has gone up."

He said something else in his speech that shows just how far we've come as a nation in our dealings with the threat of nuclear warfare. Here's a hint: it sounds a lot like the cold war policy of Mutually Assured Destruction. Obama: "Make no mistake. As long as these weapons exist, the United States will maintain a safe, secure, and effective arsenal to deter any adversary, and guarantee that defense to our allies."

"[A] safe, secure, and effective arsenal..." Sounds a lot like Kahn's description of a rational deterrent: "It should be frightening, inexorable, persuasive, cheap, non-accident prone, and controllable." Considering the enormous debt America is now sitting on, Obama really ought to rethink his rhetoric to include "cheap." And another thing -- a safe, secure, and effective defense to our allies? As Dr. Strangelove so masterfully showed us, if we have to resort to our defenses, it's too late!

To be fair, while Obama's talk on missile deterrent might resonate with a lot of cold war era rhetoric, his actions reflect a smarter, informed-by-history approach to the situation. From Newsweek magazine: "On April 8, the president will sign an arms-control treaty with Russia that will set limits on numbers of warheads and launchers, lower than any previously agreed."

Is there a Barack Obama in Dr. Strangelove? I'd say definitely not. That's the point. The president in the film is weak, clumsy and lacking a backbone. But Dr. Strangelove satirizes the issue of nuclear warfare on so many issues, which makes me think that even if the president were competent -- or at least strong willed -- the days of the atomic bomb's power being contained to one man, or nation, are long over. And there are plenty of Major 'King' Kongs in the world who might not hesitate to flip the switch if given the opportunity to go out with a bang -- in his case on a giant exploding phallus.

It's 3:30 a.m. and I'm not sure how to end this. I guess all I can say is that while after watching Dr. Strangelove I'm a little more terrified of nuclear destruction, I've always been terrified of giant exploding phalluses. Kudos to Kubrick on making me laugh at both.