Thomas Kinkade’s local lieutenant tells me the left-handed Painter of Light has a higher Q-rating than Ralph Lauren. Seems like a funny thing for a person to know, but when you get used to explaining how big a deal Kinkade is, these kinds of comparisons can accumulate. The Weekly looked a little more closely at some of the parallels that surfaced over the course of reporting this story, and how Kinkade ultimately shakes out.

Barack Obama

Former junior U.S. senator from Illinois, president-elect

THE LINK: "I believe God has a plan. I have hope in the universe – a contagious optimism. Look at what we just did, we elected man who built his campaign around hope. I’ve been known as artist of hope for years. It’s a very relevant cultural word."

THE BOTTOM LINE: There are Obama ties, aprons and mouse pads. Cue Kinkade yawning – call me when you’ve got wall crosses, suncatchers, Christmas stockings and signature communities in Vallejo, Calif. Besides, as Kinkade points out, he was peddling hope for thousands when Obama was still an awkward teen at Punahou High.

Edge: Kinkade.

John Steinbeck

Pulitzer and Nobel Prize winning novelist

THE LINK: "We have been in Cannery Row for a long time. Steinbeck was the author of Cannery Row. They refer to me as the artist of Cannery Row. Cannery Row is associated with creativity and arts, so it’s nice to know as an artist I have a connection there."

THE BOTTOM LINE: Kinkade likes to craft the argument that critical acceptance and popular appeal are mutually exclusive. Steinbeck proves it’s not true. Then there’s the fact that Kinkade’s Lithograph of the Year awards don’t stack up very well against that Pulitzer and Nobel.

Edge: Steinbeck.

Madawg

Pacific Grove fluxist painter known as The Painter of Dark

THE LINK: "If he is ridiculous enough to call himself the Painter of Light, I can be ridiculous enough to call myself the Painter of Dark,” Madawg says, though she is hesitant to be critical because she doesn’t want to offend “sweet little old ladies and housewives. "

THE BOTTOM LINE: Madawg’s revolutionary bent – her miniature at MMA’s annual exhibit (pictured, left) is called “Burn the Museum” – offers a little more food for thought than Kinkade’s safety. But even Maddog concedes she depends on Kinkade for relevance: “If he goes down, I go down.”

Edge: Kinkade.

Norman Rockwell

20th-century painter and illustrator

THE LINK: "There is a renegade contingent of critics, who are saying, ‘No matter what you say, [Kinkade] has a place.’ Like Norman Rockwell brought comfort in ’40s, my work does that in the chaotic 21st century."

THE BOTTOM LINE: Kinkade believes he and Rockwell both paint “life how it should be” and points to Rockwell as a historical equivalent – an artist embraced by everyday people, dismissed by contemporary critics for being overly sweet and ultimately vindicated by history. But Rockwell’s work found more diversity and depth, as demonstrated by the Four Freedoms series he did during World War II – “Freedom of Speech” being the most famous – and his confrontation of racism with “The Problem We All Live With” later in his career.

Edge: Rockwell.

Walt Disney

Academy Award-winning film producer, director, screenwriter, animator, entrepreneur and philanthropist

THE LINK: "Walt Disney wasn’t satisfied just making a movie. He said, ‘I wanna invite people to step into that world,’ and he built Disneyland,” Kinkade told 60 Minutes. “We view my work and my cultural identity, in a way, as heir to the Walt Disney kind of tradition."

THE BOTTOM LINE: Kinkade read the writing on the wall aloud in 2001, at the ribbon cutting of The Village, a Thomas Kinkade Community: “Anything Martha Stewart has done, we can do. Anything Walt Disney has done, we can do.” Moreover, present-day Disney needs Kinkade. They commissioned him to paint Disneyland’s 50th and to complete a lucrative series of reimagined scenes from its animated classics. Kinkade doesn’t need Disney.

Edge: Kinkade.