The fear of an Obama presidency seems to be less of a phobia today than it was when he was elected for his first term. However a recent association with spiders might be giving ammunition to the naysayers who don't particularly consider 8-legged creatures as anything close to a pet.
It was an historic moment for comic books, when Marvel's Amazing Spider Man met the newly elected Barack Obama. The theme for comic book No 583 involved Peter Parker detecting an Obama impostor trying to disrupt the inauguration in 2009.
But of course, Obama isn't the only member of his family who can claim popularity as a superhero in the pet world. In the fourth issue of Marvel Comics' "Lockjaw and the Pet Avengers," the "First Dog Bo" was featured as a 'Super Dog' of sorts. Paired with the dynamic team of super-powered beasties, Bo joins Lockjaw, the massive bull-dog with the ability to teleport anywhere in the universe.
First Dog "Bo" in "Lockjaw and the Pet Avengers"
This year, after the president was named once again, Time Magazine's Person of the Year for 2012, he was caught in Spider-Man's web as he greeted the son of one of his White House Staffer in the Outer Oval Office.
However, the most unique connections to spiders came just a few hours before this post, when the social media techie blog Mashable announced the Leader of the Free World now has a species of spider named after him. Yup, it's true. After identifying as many as 33 new species of trapdoor spiders in the American Southwest, researchers have labeled one of them, the Aptostichus BarackObamai.
Aptostichus BarackObamai
The "trapdoor" characteristic derives from the fact that these arachnids dig burrows for themselves underground, and then use their silk to weave themselves a door to escape. Keeping in mind, where the folks in the U.S. find themselves today with the country heading towards the fiscal cliff, the GOP might interpret this feature negatively as Obama weaving a web of deceit. His supporters, on the other hand might look to the "trapdoor" as a way out our economic woes.
The scientific discovery was made by researchers at the Auburn University Museum of Natural History and Department of Biological Sciences. Professor Jason Bond, who is a trapdoor spider expert and the director of the Auburn University Museum of Natural History was excited at the prospect of such a remarkable find of a new species here, in the United States.
Other such famous species of trapdoor spiders are the Aptostichus stephencolberti and the Aptostichus angelinajolieae, which obviously got their names from Stephen Colbert and Angelina Jolie, respectively.
Commenting on these findings, Bond stated that, “While it is absolutely remarkable that a large number of species from such a heavily populated area have gone unnoticed, it clearly speaks volumes to how little we know of the biodiversity around us and that many more species on the planet await discovery.” Could Obama also be that new breed of president capable of weaving us a path to a prosperous 2013?
As the President struggles to find a way out of the "Fiscal Cliff" web, we can head into the holiday season with the comforting thought, that the Commander in Chief is looking for that "trapdoor" that hopefully will open up a brighter future for all this New Year. Others might perceive it as Baracknophobia and a descent into further economic decline. So as it stands at this moment in time, I guess you could call it a "cliff hanger," 
