The making of Obama Messiah
Tuesday August 26, 2008
Categories: Democrats
It's bizarre how Obamaniacs hail their candidate as a messianic figure, then get all flustered when Obama disbelievers make fun of their earnestness and enthusiasm. Mark Shea cites one particularly apt example of Obama secular messianism. On that point, this...
Add to Del.icio.us
Add to Technorati
Add to Digg
Add to Newsvine
Add to Facebook
Add to StumbleUpon
Advertisement
Advertisement
Search This Blog
Recent Posts
About Crunchy Con
Rod Dreher is an editorial columnist for the Dallas Morning News, and author of "Crunchy Cons" (Crown Forum), a nonfiction book about conservatives, most of them religious, whose faith and political convictions sometimes put them at odds with mainstream conservatives. The views expressed in this blog are his own.
Subscribe
Archives
Blogs Worth Reading
- Front Porch Republic
- The American Conservative
- Patrick Deneen
- Conventional Folly
- The American Scene
- First Things
- Andrew Sullivan
- The Plank
- Eunomia
- Get Religion
- Postmodern Conservative
- Alex Massie
- The Corner
- Contentions
- Sharon Astyk
- Barry Ritholtz
- The Oil Drum
- Mere Comments
- First Principles (ISI)
- Brian Kaller
Since Mr. Shea doesn't understand the objection, I will offer it here so that others may know. I (and my fellow contributors for the most part) do not object to people claiming Obama has a cultish following. I object to one of the most important symbols of our faith, Christ as Messiah, being prostituted for political use. There are some things that should be held sacred. When we don't treat sacred things as sacred, we lose our credibility to condemn others for not treating them with respect.
Maybe because MOST of the Obama supporters DON'T view him as a messianic figure.
I would say that the percentage is the same, or lower, than those who thought Bush was an agent of God's Will.
You did support him at one point, Rod. You admit it. Did you, even at the time you supported him, ever view Bush, in his political role, as an agent of the Almighty? (And I don't mean it in the fatalistic 'God picks ALL our leaders' way. I mean, that he's doing what God LIKES.) Some certainly did. As little as I liked the man, I never thought it was a majority of his supporters.
If not, you get the reason the most of us who NEVER viewed Obama that way are fully able, and allowed, to raise our objections.
Eh, I like the song and the video is actually pretty effective. They aren't "praying" to Obama, but about the future if he is elected. In a day when megachurch preachers hold candidate forums and Archbishops try to politicize the Eucharist, this seems pretty tame and innoccuos.
To add to Karen Brown's point: anyone remember this de-lightful bit of kitsch from the Bush years?
http://www.thetalentshow.org/wp/wp-content/uploads/2007/10/praying-for-peace3.jpg
Exactly how far will you go to conflate the majority of a candidate's supporters to being cult members, Rod? I voted for Bush twice, and me voting for Sen. Obama is my way of saying that "I was wrong." You want the ability to sound high-minded about objecting to Bush and his history of failed policies, while doing everything to mock the one candidate standing in the way of a McCain presidency, one which promises to continue the same said failed policies.
You're beginning to lose credibility, Light-Bringer.
DU
Typical right-wing boilerplate: Thoughtless and inaccurate.
Here's how you do it: Pick a couple of folks whose support of Obama can be charitably described as over-enthusiastic; mix in a few distorted quotes; bake for six months in the minds of lazy journalists and bloggers; and voila, you can call the Obama campaign a cult.
Jonathan Chait of the New Republic ably destroys Rod's distorted and lazy analysis.
http://www.tnr.com/politics/story.html?id=74274e4e-fac5-40a6-bf8f-0d64e812d632
I've only heard of conservatives referring to Obama as a Messianic figure.
The clip that Mark Shea links to terrifies me. I have rarely voted Republican, and John McCain does not appeal to me, but I'm tempted to vote for him anyway, just to say "No!" as strongly as I can to this sort of thing. I'm also no fan of either Moral Therapeutic Deism or the Hegelian view of a zeitgeist or world-spirit given form by the state. The merger of the two and its "incarnation" in *one* *single* *person,* whom supporters venerate as the words "hope" and "change" made flesh is deeply disturbing to me., and all the more so since that one single person is nothing more than one of many grasping climbers of the greasy pole -- albeit one who's clearly learned a lot from what it was that P. T. Barnum (or Machiavelli) had to teach.
Joe Mamma, conservatives refer to Obama as a Messianic figure only because liberals (and his supporters in general) TREAT him as such.
Really?
Because the last I checked, Messiahs were treated by being scorned, abused, and executed. They generally got on the wrong side of the powers that be because they were seen as encouraging rebellion and they were killed.
What part of that is how Obama is being treated?
I could SEE 'celebrity'. I could see 'reformer'. But I don't see anyone expecting anything supernatural from him. Or have things gotten sad enough in politics that simply expecting someone to act like a decent human being, and do a good job, is the same as asking for a miracle worker?
I just watched as much as I could stand of the You Tube clip Mark Shea has up on his site. Yes, I think that is a silly, God-awful clip though I'm sure the folks who made it thought it was great. I'm fairly sure I'm going to vote for Obama despite nonsense such as this. I'm a lukewarm Obama supporter. The fact that some of his fans are silly does not change my mind.
Liberals treat Obama as a messiah and Obama speaks of himself as if he were a messiah. Conservatives are merely responding to Obama's and the left's presentation of Obama.
Once again, what is the difference between being hopeful and enthusiastic, thinking your candidate might be a decent man and get something done, and being a 'messiah'?
Is ANYONE claiming he will save their souls, can do anything supernatural?
If not, then I fail to see how he is a 'messiah'.
Well, or if he is, then a 'messiah' is a far more mundane and prosaic character than I thought they were. Don't know what the big fuss is about them.
Denton:
What's with the "Joe Mamma" statement? If you don't like Obama, fine, but it's when I see statments like this that are highly offensive to me as an African-American. And in your response, spare me your diatribe about how yousick you are of being accused as racists when you're merely making a joke. If you have a prejudice against those who are not like you, admit it. I'd rather know who my enemies are rather than have them smile in my face. Oh, and by the way, if you're also an African-American, it's an even more pathetic example of your own self hatred. I pray for you.
Doug
Alicia,
The trouble with Obama for many of us is that "lukewarm" is not a response to him that he or his supporters seem willing to permit. It's as if one can only either be left cold or else be so "inspired" and so "enthusiastic" that one needs to wear Depend Undergarments just to get through the day. Perhaps its things like Michelle's insistence that Barack will never "let" us go back to our worthless, insignificant lives prior to His incarnation of "hope" and "change" that leaves us so very cold on Him (and on her). I feel like a spoonful of cod-liver oil is being thrust down my throat every time I see His face -- which is all of the time, wherever I turn. I'd prefer a Gerald Ford type of figure (albeit a competent one) -- a non-celebrity without any mythic or messianic subtext, a non-imperial president, in other words. So much for dreaming, I guess.
Rufus:
So let me get this straight---you don't like Obama because people find him inspiring? The man can't win for losing, can he?
The commenter's name at 12:44 PM.
Doug,
Well, I wouldn't vote for Obama even if he were as low-key and humble as the Gerald Ford figure I describe.
I don't disagree with him as often as not on the issues and I don't think, in any event, that he has enough experience or a strong enough of record of accomplishment to warrant being president.
I don't think that psycho-therapeutic pep-rallies cum quasi-religious revivals are a president's job -- maybe Oprah's, maybe Norman Vincent Peale's.
Obama does not send a tremor up my leg. I guess I'm just a stick-in-the-mud.
What I'd like to know, however, is what has Obama ever done for anyone, *besides* sending tremors up their legs?
Here's how Obama could win with me: do a good job for 12 or better yet for 18 more years, all the while leaving me alone. Once he's amassed some solid reasons why he ought to be the president, *then* he can come, hat in hand, to ask me "pretty please" to my vote him -- and without all the grandiosity and the cod-liver oil.
Doug,
My last post is an unproofread mess.
It should read that I disagree with Obama as often as not on the issues and that when he has some reasons I should vote for him, he should ask me "pretty please" so to do -- again without the grandiosity and the cod-liver oil.
Matt: "Here's how you do it: Pick a couple of folks whose support of Obama can be charitably described as over-enthusiastic; mix in a few distorted quotes; bake for six months in the minds of lazy journalists and bloggers; and voila, you can call the Obama campaign a cult."
OR, you can just watch this.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oVi4rUzf-0Q&eurl=http://www.standfirminfaith.com/index.php/site/article/15711/
This is nothing short of a freaking Obama Hymn. You may apologize now, Matt.
Doug,
What the heck are you talking about? "Joe Mamma" was a previous poster's name. When you get off your high-horse, I'll be ready to accept your apology.
-Denton
P.S. You should go to YouTube and search for "American Prayer".
You too, Matt.
Rod- there's a person you might be familiar with over on the Huffington webpage- his name is Frank Schaeffer. It would be interesting to hear your take on his views on Barack Obama. Ultimately, he feels, Barack Obama is pro-life.
Setting up a FALSE straw man arguement so you can knock it down.
color me unimpressed
NO Obama supporter thinks Obama is messianic, he's a man with feet of clay, as his own autobiographies clearly outline.
Thanks, Rufus. I was one of the category of Hillary Clinton supporters (and didn't think she was perfect, either). But many of my friends backed Obama, and yes, I did have to deal with some disapproval when I said I was less-than-thrilled with Obama. Today, I will not wear an Obama button, and I tell my friends, when we discuss it, that I am lukewarm in my support.
That way, if he becomes President and disappoints those who now hail him as a superman, I can have the pleasure of saying "I told you so."
I guess that's snarky.
Alicia,
It wouldn't be snarky to tell your friends you told them so. It would be educational. Maybe they would listen the next time around.
Unless you live in a swing state, you ought to consider not voting at all if you have doubts about Obama, or casting a write-in vote. Your vote -- as with most people's votes these days -- may not mean much if anything, unless you live in one of the few competitive states, in which case it might be worth your while. But don't vote just out of peer pressure. You don't owe it your friends, nor to the Democratic Party, let alone to Barack Obama.
The irony of all this is that if Hilary had been the nominee -- as should would have been had John Edwards not mucked things up by poaching what would have been support for her in Iowa and other places -- if HIllary had been the nominee, the Democrats would be up by at least five points by now, with a post-convention bounce on the way, instead of gnawing their fingernails to bits and worrying themselves to death about Obama's shaky chances, with an onslaught of William Ayers ads around the bend, along with Lord knows what other skeletons there are that may emerge from Obamessiah's closet before we're done.
Oh my God! That is so FUNNY! And it nails the real problem with the lightworker perfectly. At the end of the day...he's just another politician.
Sure the video's kinda silly-- but it's Hollywood. It has nothing to do with why people in flyover country (like me) support Obama. Give it up, folks-- that joke isn't funny anymore (apologies to Morrissey)
Sorry, I should say I was referring to the video on Mark Shea's blog, not the one Rod has up here. That one IS actually funny!
Rufus, I live in the District of Columbia, so my vote doesn't count much either way. So, what the heck, maybe I'll write in "Hillary Clinton."
Insane Kitten, I couldn't watch the whole video clip on Mark Shea's blog - I got about half way through, but it was so inane that it was driving me crazy. What the heck were Jason Alexander and Forest Whitaker doing there? I realize this was supposed to be like a music video, but it reminded me of why I've always hated music videos.
If I do vote for Obama, it will be because I think he is the lesser of two ills.
Alicia,
Lord have mercy on your soul ... you live in politically the least competitive, the least small-d democratic, the least small-r (and big-R) republican place in the country. So there's no reason whatsoever you should vote for Barack. By all means write HIllary in. I have a sinking feeling you'll be glad that you did.
Obama is not a messiah, but any averagely professional psychologist can notice from his 'inspiring' speeches, that some mental problems lie underneath this charisma - the man just can't resist saving us, world and anything you want... He needs recognition and attention, and needs it a lot - it's the messiah complex, not charisma - http://www.votetheday.com/polls/barack-obama-101/
Well, it may not interfere with ruling the country, as he wants only good, but we've already had one psycho in power for 8 years...
Post a Comment
By submitting these comments, I agree to the beliefnet.com terms of service, rules of conduct and privacy policy (the "agreements"). I understand and agree that any content I post is licensed to beliefnet.com and may be used by beliefnet.com in accordance with the agreements.