Julius Caesar: Compare and Contrast Essay Essay

Julius Caesar is an ancient leader who is known worldwide for his famous last words â€Å"Et tu Brute?† as his closest friends were brutally murdering him. Barack Obama is the current United States President who has been in office for two consecutive terms, or eight years. Both leaders will be remembered forever, Caesar because of his murder and Obama because he is the first African American President to lead the United States. Although United States President Barack Obama is a leader centuries after the rise and fall of Julius Caesar their traits while in power that they exhibited are polar opposites. Whether it be the way that the leaders treat and respect their wives, the life they lived, or the way that they led their countries, they were opposite in almost every way possible. To begin, Julius Caesar was married to a weak-willed woman named Calpurnia. Calpurnia was a whiny woman who tried to keep Caesar from what he wanted to do and his civil duties as ruler of Rome. Calpurnia had nightmares of Caesar dying and his blood being put on display in the streets, dreams that she scared herself into believing, although becoming true. When Caesar refused to listen to her pleads of staying inside their house, she got on her knees and cried to him begging him to please stay home. This Caesar thought was highly ridiculous and he went anyways, against her wishes. Despite the lack of listening that Caesar had shown towards his wife, Obama looks to his wife as if she were his right-hand-man. Barack Obama is married to a strong-willed woman named Michelle. Michelle is a woman who had dreams and once her husband was elected into office, she made those dreams come true, having her husbands’ back in the decisions that he made for his country. Michelle wrote her own stump speeches for her husband’s presidential campaign and generally spoke without notes showing her involvement in the support of her husbands’ job. Michelle is an advocate for a healthier tomorrow, making meal plans for schools countrywide to follow, Obama also backing her up and helping her in any way he can. President Barack Obama has a respect for his wife that is unbelievably vigorous while the respect that Caesar displayed for his wife was as if there was none at all, not only proving how much times have changed, but showing how strong the bonds of marriage should be. Continuing,  Caesar was a patrician by noble birth being born into a wealthy patrician family that had money beyond knowledge. The ancestry that Caesar had was that of honor and fame being the grandson of Aeneas who was the son of the goddess Venus. Caesar’s family name, Julii Caesar, came from the birth by caesarean section, caes- meaning cut, one of his family members being born by this style of birth. Caesar came from a family of such wealth that his father was in charge of governing the province of Asia. But Obama, on the other hand, was born into a poorer family, his mother being from Wichita, Kansas and his father being on a J-visa from a small town in Kenya, both of his parents being in college on opposite sides of the country, forcing them to separate, Obama being a newborn. Obama was named after his father, being Barack Hussein Obama II, a pure Kenyan name. Obama’s parents were highly educated, his father going to Harvard Law School and his mother going to the University of Washington and then to the University of Hawaii where she graduated with a major in anthropology. Caesar and Obama came from completely different upbringings, one of military greatness and wealth and the other of brilliance and poverty. Finally, Caesar, because of his military background and the fact that he led the Romans to the defeat of the Gauls, he was welcomed home to Rome by the senate granting him triumphs for his victories. When Caesar gained more power over Rome, he ordered a census be taken resulting in the reduction of grain dole, restricting the purchases of certain luxuries and rewarding those who had many children simply because they were increasing the population of Rome. Caesar made some very vital decisions in the development of not only Rome, but the world as well such as changing the traditional calendar to the Egyptian calendar meaning that instead of having 365 days in a year, there would be 365.25 days because of the 29th day of February every fourth year. Caesar also made decisions such as establishing a police system, rebuilding the cities of Corinth and Carthage and building a library as a branch off of the Library of Alexandria. Militarily, Caesar wanted to conquer the Dacians and the Parthians, but he wasn’t able to accomplish that due to his death. As a result of his murder, the month July was named after him, its original name being Quintilis. Yet, even though not having any months named after him or establishing such important institutions, Obama has had his fair amount of fame worthy actions. Obama will forever be remembered as the first African  American Presidential Candidate and first African American to become president. As president Obama promised many choices that would help the United States become stronger as a whole such as better long-range planning, superior fundraising, dominant organizing in caucus states, and better exploitation of delegate allocation rules. Obama also made history by becoming the first democratic president since Franklin Delano Roosevelt to twice win the majority of the popular vote with the people. Obama made the change to reduce the secrecy given to presidential military records to gain the trust of the people he was in charge of making a better state for. Militarily, Obama issued executive orders and presidential memoranda directing the U.S. military to develop plans to withdraw troops from Iraq, claiming that he was fixing the problem that former President George W. Bush started. Caesar wanted to start war with other countries while Obama wanted to end the war that presented itself, their strategies of dealing with their countries being completely opposite. Caesar was a leader that because of the way that he took care of his subjects was murdered because he simply was not liked. Obama is a leader of a different time period, being constantly followed by security, ensuring his safety, and maybe that’s why Caesar wasn’t saved, because times have changed. Perhaps Obama has learned from Caesar’s mistakes and that has influenced to take votes among the senate and people before making decisions that could ultimately question the safety of the citizens looking up to him. Caesar and Obama both have their own ways of leading their states, treating their wives, and came from completely different upbringings, the one similarity the share being that they will be legends for years to come.