Is a politician a good secret ID?

[OddHat]

Re: Is a politician a good secret ID?

 

basically trying to hold down a job whilst being a superhero is really really hard even worse if you have to be in school or college

 

When I was in college I could vanish for weeks at a time; as long as my papers were turned in and I took the midterm and the final, I was fine. College student is a great Secret ID.

[BishopofB&W]

Re: Is a politician a good secret ID?

 

Senator might be easiest ... have you seen the Senate in action when it's not a "major" vote... you're lucky to get a third of those lousy schmucks. seriously.

 

Of course, there are plenty of ploitical positions that don't get nearly as much splotlight as a Senator, Congressman or Mayor.. all of those guys have cabinets of appointed officials and assistants.

 

Some of those might even know more about what goes on than the guy out front, seeing as they are the day to day workings of a politician in office.

 

The book How To Be A Superhero suggested if you're a senator and you have to step out to fight crime, tell your staff your going out for crack and hookers.

[sinanju]

Re: Is a politician a good secret ID?

 

About as viable as millionaire playboy. The truth is that the responsibilities of running a corporation would interfere so greatly in your ability to fight crime that you'd basically be using your vacation tiem to combat evil. A politician with a secret ID would constantly have aids running around looking for him, "Where's the senator? He's never around when we need to discuss the Lataverian Arms Deal!"

 

But it's a game. Bruce Wayne gets to rarely show up at the office because people buy into the idea that if you run the company you can do absolutely nothing but rubber stamp things a couple times a week. Politician is fine for a comic book setting, but don't try it in real life

 

That was one of the things I liked about The Shadow (the movie). Lamont Cranston had a reputation as a slacker (well, a lazy layabout playboy in period terms) precisely because being The Shadow all night was a fulltime job.

 

"I got caught up."

"In _what_, for God's sake? You don't do anything! At least pick a hobby or _something_! It's unseemly--a man your age...."

[sinanju]

Re: Is a politician a good secret ID?

 

there really arnt many jobs that are compatyible with a superheroic life style

 

Or, as an article in a comics magazine once put it many years ago...

 

We ALREADY have colorfully costumed characters patrolling our cities, fighting crime. They're called THE POLICE."

[Supreme Serpent]

Re: Is a politician a good secret ID?

 

The book How To Be A Superhero suggested if you're a senator and you have to step out to fight crime' date=' tell your staff your going out for crack and hookers.[/quote']

 

Shouldn't that be Mayor of DC instead?

[Starlord]

Re: Is a politician a good secret ID?

 

If you're playing with any sense of realism, I don't think it's feasible. They are just too busy (higher-level politicians), and they are too much of a public figure.

[JMcL63]

Re: Is a politician a good secret ID?

 

Politician is a great secret ID for a superhero- a great public ID even, as in the new Ex Machina. I was in a campaign once where one PC was a politician who had superpowers thanks to a government project during his military service. A villainess soon turned up who was another subject of this project, gone rogue. It was great fun!

[Ghost who Walks]

Re: Is a politician a good secret ID?

 

I once had a virus get released at the Superbowl, that either gave people superpowers, turned them into non-Marvel mutants, or killed them.

 

A 60 year old Senator was there, and exposed. The controversial politician from Georgia recieved superhuman strength, a bitter rage, and Narcolepsy.

 

I'm thinking of having him reappear in higher government office, now that I've thinned the political herd with my last alien invasion.

[David Blue]

Re: Is a politician a good secret ID?

 

Dan Quayle is a superhero. That's why George H.W. Bush (who had learned his secret identity while head of the C.I.A.) selected him to be Vice-President: so Captain Brilliant could always be alerted to trouble as soon as the President got the news, yet as Vice-President he would have hardly any official duties and always be free to respond to the call.

 

As a super-hero, Dan had hardly any time to prepare for his speeches, study policy or do anything else that he might normally have been expected to do, but it worked out for the best, helping to maintain an image that threw off super-villains looking for a super-intelligent man.

 

Former politician, ex-vice president, is a perfect job for a superhero. But that planning is just what you would expect from Dan. He was always smarter than he seemed, and it was so easy for him ...

[Mike W]

Re: Is a politician a good secret ID?

 

No. A politician is not a good secret ID, especially if we are talking about someone who is running on a national level. Too much chance that your opponents hire some really good private eyes to dig up everything they can on you. The FBI would open a file on you if you got too prominant, just to make sure. Heck, a disreputable opponent might even use the FBI to investigate you. Especially if you were preaching any kind of "revoltuionary" message or seemed to be anti-government. Politicians should expect that any mistake they have ever made, any secret that they have will be dug up by their opponents by the time they become governor or take any national office. Which means you could expect the opposing party to crack your secret ID by that point. What they did with the info would depend on a lot of factors, but a secret known by that many people is no longer secret - and who knows what happens then, even accidentally.