8/27/2008
One of the highly unusual and sometimes downright creepy aspects of this 2008 presidential election cycle is the reverential, almost worshipful treatment of Senator Obama by supporters. Mark Morford of the SF Chronicle calls Obama an “enlightened being,” and a “lightworker,” and claims this is the reason why the senator is someone with the “appeal, the pull, the ethereal and magical thing that seems to enthrall millions of people from all over the world.”
Now there is a new video, released by Dave Stewart from the UK, American Prayer, which takes this Obama spirituality movement a step further. While a nice song, the reverence it conveys for a candidate who has done virtually nothing except talk is perhaps the most disturbing thing about the video. Here is a sample of the lyrics:
This is my American Prayer
This is my American Prayer
This is the time to finish what you started
And this is no time to dream
This is the room
We can turn off the dark tonight
Maybe then we might see
I’m not even sure what this means. Originally, the song may have been written to honor Martin Luther King Jr. Dave Stewart co-wrote the song with Bono, whose own tribute to Dr. King, In The Name of Love, is incredibly inspirational. Stewart later re-oriented the song as a music video to honor Senator Obama.
But the sight of people praying, almost seemingly to Obama himself, is hardly inspirational. Rather, it’s downright creepy.
What has Senator Obama accomplished to merit such reverence?
I can understand the reverence which we all feel for Dr. King, he changed to course of American history. Dr. King brought us closer to the ideals outlined in the Constitution than nearly any other person before him. But Barack Obama has spent about eight years in the Illinois state senate and about three years in Congress.
In that time, Senator Obama has authored no major legislation, shown virtually no leadership in the Senate, and, in fact, has spent most of his first term in Congress on the campaign trail trying to become president. His words are powerful, but his deeds are virtually non-existent.
So why the reverence? As they saying goes, “talk is cheap.”
Now Obama is preparing to accept the Democratic nomination at Investco Field tomorrow night on a stage that appears to be either a mockup of the State House, the White House, or a Roman Temple. It’s almost certainly not meant to be a mockup of a temple, but why invite the comparison in the first place?
This is the kind of thing, held up before a nation that is beginning to pay serious attention to the coming election, that will sink the Obama candidacy. Americans aren’t interested in all the hype; rather, they will look on this spectacle and roll their collective eyes.
Do we really need another huge ego in the White House? Do we really need a religio-political figure leading the country?
1 Comment
After watching the entire video, I agree it seems like a remake of a song honoring Martin Luther King Jr. Because Dr. King did shape history, — he does deserves a spot of honor in it. Thus, our national holiday each January. As you point out — what has Obama done to deserve this reverence?
While teaching a speech class recently, I found an article that pointed out that although Obama is a dynamic speaker — what DOES he say? His “political speak” is weak. If one were to read a transcript of Obama’s messages, it would not read nearly as impressively as when he presents them. Yet, even today we still read the dynamic speeches of great leaders like Lincoln, Washington, Henry and Jefferson. I don’t foresee the orations of Obama being read in history books by my great grandchildren.
No we don’t need another huge ego in the White House. I had enough of the last huge ego in the White House when he tried to sell us on “it depends on what our definition of ‘IS’ is.” Come on!!
Have you coined a new term with a “religio-political” figure? As appropriate as the term might be– MY personal American’s prayer is that we don’t need to use the term religio-political figure for the next 4 years to describe our nations president.
Comment by Christine — 9/3/2008 @ 4:20 pm