Posted by
The OttO Show on Wednesday, August 20, 2008 2:00:00 PM
"Raymond Shaw is the kindest, bravest,
warmest, most wonderful human being I've ever known in my
life." - The Manchurian Candidate (line repeated by Shaw's
brainwashed colleagues)
"George W was destined
from birth to lead us into the valley of the shadow of death. I believe
that Obama was destined from birth to lead us out. For us, there is a
gift in entering and in leaving to the soul." - Denise Gibel
Molini
08/01/2008
Come
again?
Generally, we worship a president
after he's proven
himself to be a great president. This is like naming
Lincoln's birthday a federal holiday before his
election in 1860. Ronald Reagan wasn't truly revered until
after he left office - while serving, he was still just a flawed
politician.
I don't know Denise and I'm
sure she's a wonderful person but I'm curious to know if she - and
others - really believe this kind of stuff. Whether it stems
from hatred of George W. Bush or fawning admiration for Barack Obama,
it begs to be asked: are we really going to apply religious
overtones to our feelings about fellow men?
Is Obama the Manchurian Candidate minus the international
conspiracy, supported by zombies and tall-tale-tellers and people so
desperate for meaning in their own lives that they are willing to turn
a mere (and unaccomplished) politician into a superman?
These guys are, after all, just politicians - yes, even
The Obama. They are flesh and blood just like you and
me. Yes, they are typically privileged and molded for office,
they tend to be ambitious and smart and fortunate and they manage to
convince a majority or plurality of voters to support them.
Bush is not going bring about the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse and
Obama is not going to part the Red Sea. When Bush leaves
office in less than five months, he will have left some things better
and some things worse. When President Obama or McCain leave
office in four or eight years, they will have left behind some things
for the better, some for the worse.
The
country is bigger than one man and history is bigger than most
men. There are 535 members of Congress who collectively have
more influence than the president. There is a judicial system
that, while imperfect, can do things the president can not
do. The presidency is bigger than any other individual
perhaps, but not any other body of government in our
system.
One of my most consistently
applicable and repeated critiques of the Left in the past year has been
the line, "To the Left, it's not about the 'what' - it's about
the 'who'."
Barack
Obama is the culmination of that trait.
I
was in the kitchen of a woman recently who I didn't know well but knew
was a committed Democrat. She asked me if I thought McCain
had a chance and I said, "Sure, I think McCain has a great
chance." She sighed and then commented on how
depressed she would be if Obama didn't win.
I didn't respond but I was flabbergasted. Here
was a successful, older-than-middle-aged, cultured woman who was going
to base her personal happiness on the turnout of an election.
I want McCain to win.
If he loses, I will be disappointed and concerned - but no one should
view the success or failure of a candidate as the be-all, end-all to
their own lives. I will not be depressed if McCain
loses. I will roll up my sleeves and keep doing what I do and
fight the fight again in four years.
People
need to face up to the very real possibility that Barack Obama is going
to lose this
election. It's Obama's lack of a qualifying background that
makes the whole worship thing so hard to understand.
So my questions amount to this: what is Obama's
single biggest strength? What makes people believe that he is
the answer to their problems, that he will save the world?
What has he accomplished that would make people believe that he'll
accomplish great things (or anything for that matter) in the White
House? Why has the man-child been able to come almost from
out of nowhere and capture the minds and hearts and even spiritualness
of so many people?
My personal opinion is
that it's a sickness - that there is truth to the claim that the Left
treats politics like religion with scriptures and temples and prophets
and messianic figures and judgment days. Some of the worst
leaders in history have risen to power on these kinds of waves.
My advice for these supporters is to
vote, campaign, run for office, stay politically aware, write,
organize, contact lawmakers and fight for what you believe
in. But the notion that Obama is going to lead us out of the
valley of death makes me wonder: where exactly is he going to
lead us to?