Baron Bodissey writing at Gates of Vienna has a wonderful comparison between two worlds -- one present and one fantasy:
One Ring to Rule Them All
Thanks to the timeliness and popularity of the movie version of The Lord of the Rings, comparisons between the hobbits' quest and our own struggle against the Great Jihad have become commonplace. It's hard to avoid goosebumps of uncanny recognition when Aragorn says, "This day we fight! By all that you hold dear on this good earth, I bid you, stand, men of the West!"
Sauron is clearly a composite of Osama bin Laden, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, Mullah Omar, Saddam Hussein, with all of al Qaeda and the other mujahideen for his legions of orcs. And Saruman? I would vote for Hugo Chavez, Robert Mugabe, Fidel Castro, and Kim Jong-il, all rolled into one. And the Fellowship of the Ring represents? well, it represents all of the rest of us, doesn't it? "The Men of the West," indeed.
The analogy really struck home the other day, when I was thinking about how invisible George W. Bush had become as his political enemies did everything they could to bring him down.
"I know what is," I thought. "He found himself in danger, and has put on the Ring!"
It was Boromir, in the person of Senator John McCain, who induced this behavior in President Frodo: "Just let me have the Ring, Mr. President! I could do great things with it!"
Then he looked around in surprise as the wily hobbit vanished and slipped from his grasp.
So how far can one extend the metaphor? Bilbo is obviously Bush 41, who had the Ring in his possession for a little while, but relinquished it to his younger kinsman. George Galloway does well in the part of Grima Wormtongue, sneaking around the back corridors of power with his all his lying and scheming. And Gollum is a certain Massachusetts Senator and former presidential candidate: "It's ours, precious, yes it is! The nasty hobbitses stole it from us!"
There is more at the site -- wonderful analogies!
