Happy birthday, Mr. President!

Apparently the laughs are not yet over today. Today is President Robert Kocharian's 51st birthday. Armenia Liberty gives us a taste of the praise the state-owned (and thus, of course, pro-government) newspaper Hayastani Hanrapetutyun bestows upon the President:

The government paper says Kocharian [...] has repeatedly proved that he is
guided by “realism” as opposed to “romanticism.” “Skipper Kocharian is steering
the ship at a time when the weather is defiant, passengers are impatiently
waiting to reach the coast and the ship, which has gone through many ordeals, is
in constant need of repairs along the way,” it explains. “Using his life
experience, the skipper is calmly holding the steering wheel in his hands. He is
not losing a sense of moment and is not used to avoiding shouldering the burden
of responsibility.”

Skipper Kocharian.... Now, where have we heard such comparisons before? Wasn't China's leader Mao Zedong called the Great Helmsman?

Or is this pushing things too much and am I just in a very cynical mood today?