Theory:The President

Main Article Theories about The President Main Discussion

The following fan theories are about The President.

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Theories

Theory	Citations	Notes
The President is Barack Obama.	Obama is the President in real-life.	- The President is seen in office in April 2007. + The timeline is purposefully made unclear, and it could be a vague "present" era. - The timeline is explicit in this instance. April 2007. - The episode aired while George W. Bush was still the real U.S. President. - Aside from skin color, the President shares very few facial similarities with Obama. - It seems more likely that the President was intended to be a nod to Barack Obama, but not actually be him. - His first appearance was filmed before the election, thus there was no way of knowing that he would be the President. + They could have filmed two versions, one with a white and one with a black president. - Greg Beeman states in his blog that Tim Kring really wanted to cast an African-American in the role, which implies that this version with Michael Dorn was the only one that was ever filmed. + The President spoke with a similar accent to Barack Obama. + Obama may be using his controversial spending plans to distract the public.
The President is an evolved human.	None	- This would make for a tired, cliched, and somewhat predictable plot twist. + It's illogical to think in a world of empowered humans, that some would not at least attempt to use their special abilities to achieve positions of political influence. It is perhaps more plausible the president is a puppet for one or more empowered humans that are even more powerful and secretive than The Company or Pinehearst, had been.
The President will start a genocide against evolved humans.	None	+ It happened in a possible future. - It didn't happen in another possible future. + Nathan rather than Sylar was President in that future. Sylar has now taken Nathan's place again.
The President is one of the four villains in Usutu's painting.	None	+ He bears a similarity to the man in the bottom left corner. - That man is clearly Knox. See the picture here + Knox is dead; he cannot appear in any future storylines, except for flashbacks. - The painting was shown several episodes before Knox died and the President entered the story. - Arthur Petrelli is dead, yet he also seems to appear in the painting. - The President may have nothing to do with the painting; they belong to different story arcs. - Knox, Flint, Arthur, and Sylar were meant to be the four villains that Hiro sees in his spirit walk after seeing the painting, although Knox's story was cut from the show. - The President was not involved with Pinehearst. - The President got involved after Pinehearst was taken down.