Obama taking a page from the playbook of Emperor Augustus?

There is really nothing new under the Sun. The news that Obama operatives were trying to get NEA funded artists to put out material that would support the Obama agenda harkens back to Emperor Augustus when he was still the Triumvir Octavian when Octavian was vying with Marc Antony for control of the Roman Republic. I was just listening to a History of Rome podcast about this time period and apparently Octavian's "publicist" (for want of a better term) Maecenas enlisted Roman poets and artists (such as the author of the Aeneid, Virgil) to produce material in support of Octavian. I'm not saying that Obama is trying to become Emperor, but you can draw your own conclusions...