Many folks have pointed out that Barack Obama has been treated by
his supporters in and out of the media like a new messiah, the
savior, the chosen one. Many other folks, including me, thought
that this was not only sacrilegious but a case of downright
overblown rhetorical politics. Now I’m not so sure.
After witnessing some of the inaugural high-jinks — including
the shabby treatment of George W. Bush — I tried to be
magnanimous, remembering the relief I felt when the reign of Bill
Clinton ended and the GOP had regained the White House. Then I
recalled how those of us who supported our 43rd president were
scorned as “Bush-bots” and worse.
Well, it’s one thing to be a supporter, or even a sycophant, it’s
quite another to view our Commander-in-Chief as an object of
sacred adoration, even for liberals. But convinced as I now am
that liberals regard government as their primary religion, the
pronouncements of Obama as a God-like figure are right on the
money.
At first this worship took the form of a schoolgirl crush, where
21st-century bobbysoxers swooned at his campaign rallies and
chesty women jiggled in rapture at the mere sound of his name.
This was easy enough to laugh off in this age of comparing people
of note to “rock stars,” where adolescent girls plaster their
bedroom walls with beefcake photos of their idols.
But this teenybopper infatuation soon morphed into something more
sinister, assuming cult-like qualities. Eerie videos featuring
angelic children singing
psalms (note the hands crossed over the breast, a traditional
prayer posture) to their leader and even more creepy, youths
clad in
paramilitary gear giving praise to the Big O; chanting
inspirational lines like, “Obama’s health care plan will simplify
paperwork for providers.”
After the iconic inauguration festivities, the worship segued
into the bizarre, with scads of so-called celebrities making
saccharine “pledges” to their Dear One. This truly noxious
video
features promises “to smile more” and “to never give anyone the
finger when I’m driving again.” At one point, former NFLer
Michael Strahan curiously vows “to consider myself an American,
not an African-American.” The paean ends with a pledge “to be a
servant to our president and to all mankind.” One can only take
these devout folks at their word and trust that these vows will
continue to be fulfilled should a mere mortal assume the throne.
All of this would be humorous were it not so ominous. Those who
spent the last eight years reveling in comparisons of George W.
Bush to Adolf Hitler might want to examine the parallels between
their sworn devotion to their leader and those of the National
Socialists and their use of “religion” as a tool to promote their
agenda.
Perhaps the best illustration of this is a new website launched
by Norman Lear and his buddies at the Christian-bashing People
for the American Way. Now, you’d think that after finally
realizing their dream of banishing the GOP from the White House
and the majority on Capitol Hill, those on the left would be
gracious in victory and leave the Religious Right to lick their
wounds. But that’s not how our liberal friends operate. To rub
further salt into the wound, they’ve repulsively named their
site, Born
Again American.
Although its main purpose seems to be promoting a dreary,
complaint-rock folk song by Keith Carradine, the site claims that
it is “committed to the rebirth and re-expression of citizenship
through informed and thoughtful activism.” This activism it
seems, would make Hitler and the boys happy, suggesting as it
does that citizenship should supersede divine worship:
Carradine’s bio at the site brags, “my bible is the Bill
of Rights.”
Even more sickening is a video of Lear delivering an oration on
his love for the Declaration of Independence, bemoaning the fact
that “you don’t feel a lot of sacred honor in our country today.”
He goes on to call laughter “a spiritual experience,” and claims
that music and laughter are God’s proof that “we are one.”
Now call us Christians crazy — our Lord predicted that this
would be the case — but we have all the proof we need from God
every time we contemplate the Cross, and none of the secular
alternatives in the world will ever separate us from that belief.
We also believe that those who risked their sacred honor to found
this country, would recoil in horror that Americans would someday
bow down in homage to its government, and worse, to its
president.
