• • • Obama Shrugged 
Judith Grey, Daily Beast Atheism  |Ayn Rand Institute  |Atlas Shrugged  |The Fountainhead  |Capitalism  |Don Watkins  |Individualism  |Paul Ryan  | Both Obama and the heroes in Rand’s novels aim to live by example, pursue their vision with little to no compromise. In some ways, Barack Obama could be considered the Howard Roark of presidential politics. When I contacted the Ayn Rand Institute to discuss this idea, Kurt Kramer, the organization’s media-relations representative, promptly replied to my inquiry: “I don’t think you’d be willing to print anything we would say about that. We believe that Rand would not view Obama as heroic in any way.” When I assured him that The Daily Beast was nonpartisan, he directed me to Don Watkins, a fellow at the institute and coauthor of the forthcoming book Free Market Revolution: How Ayn Rand’s Ideas Can End Big Government.   Published: 2012-09-09