No matter what the Oprahcle may think, he is not THE ONE.
Posted on 02/28/2008 7:19:33 PM PST by B-Chan
"Here he is in El Paso meeting with some schoolkids. This was right after he fed an entire auditorium with just a single stick of French bread and a pack of hot dogs"
-- The Secret Diary of Steve Jobs: Barry is rocking the world down in Texas
***
The original title for this entry was "Suffer the little children to come unto me in Texas." That was, it seemed to me in the moment, a light enough touch for the illustration supplied this morning by "The Secret Steve Jobs." Over at that site I also entered a glib, cheap comment:
Does this mean we are headed to the passion, the crucifixion,and the subsequent ascending into heaven stuff? And will this be before or after the election?
Now the web draws out the cheap shot and the glib comment like no other medium, and I find myself guilty as charged across all the 20 years I've been a part of it.
But after a moment's reflection the chilling subtext of that glib rim-shot started to occur to me as I recalled recent reports of lax security at Obama appearances. ( ABC News: As Obama Security Rises, Lapses Remain ) And since I am of an age where I can remember the 1960s, I was chilled even more as images from the more violent of those days came back to me. Chief among them were November 22, 1963, April 4, 1968, and June 6, 1968. These are, as I'm sure you know from the first date, the days on which John Kennedy, Martin Luther King, and Robert Kennedy were assassinated.
When you first have children, you shortly discover that you also have several new and secret fears. Fears of things happening to your child that are so terrible that even though you can imagine them, you cannot admit to yourself that you have imagined them. If you have children you know what I'm talking about. Even if our separate secret fears are not precisely the same, the power and the horror of them are.
At this point we are also dealing -- in the same secret manner -- with our secret fear concerning Barrack Obama. At this point, we all wonder in the back of our minds, "What happens to the country if something happens to Obama?" This may note have been the case as recently as December, but it is certainly the case today.
Much is made of the concept that just the face and name of Obama running not only salves wounds in the souls of many of our citizens, but improves our standing in the world. Indeed, the candidacy "that is not about race except when it is about race" is one of the memes that powers the Obama phenomenon. It's a stealth concept because it is not something that the Obama campaign wishes to be raised in all its aspects; only in the aspects that benefit it.
If you've been paying attention, the campaign runs itself like this. Obama's race is not an issue except when it is -- and then only in a positive, healing way, never as having a potential for division. Obama's middle name is never to be used. "Barrack" is to be transformed, whenever possible, as "Barry." To support the candidate is to receive a "Get Out of Racism Free" card. To criticize the candidate in any way on any issue is to confess a membership in the Klu Klux Klan. The candidate's upbringing, past, and political non-accomplishments do not exist, only the positive present and the glowing future. Testimonials from anti-Semites are not to be acknowledged, only accepted. Obama is referred to as "The Man with the Plan," but the elements of that plan are not exactly spelled out. Fair enough. Politics as usual. Brilliant campaign, really.
Both supporters and detractors all know -- even if many will not, cannot, or are not permitted to by polite conversation to say -- that Obama's ever increasing allure is due to his race more than any other aspect of his candidacy. His image is a clever political construct; a polished bronze avatar cast from equal parts of John F. Kennedy, Robert Kennedy, and Martin Luther King. With Obama you get three, three, three American saints in one. Obama is not the Second Coming to many Americans, he is the Messiah incarnate.
Our secret fear is, as we have learned from our history, that Messiahs can become sacrifices. Avatars invite assassination. And it does not take any imagination at all to envision the vast and deep chaos that would occur should anything happen to this man at this time.
Absent a significant attack similar to 9/11 it is difficult to think of anything that could be worse for the country at this juncture. And yet it is more probable that an attempt on Obama will be made than at any time in the last few decades. The country has been infected with Bush hate for so long, and the popular culture has been so infested with dreams and threats and "works of art" imagining the death of Bush, that extending that level of political hate to Obama is trivial.
***
In December of 2003, I wrote this item:
Where Bush Hate is Headingwhich began:
A minor moron moment making its way on the talk shows today are the new lyrics by Eminem:
"F--k money. I don't rap for dead presidents.Even though written to be brain fade of the month, Eminem's lyrics encapsulate where Bush Hate is heading.
I'd rather see the president dead. "Bush Hate, at the rate of festering intensity currently observable, is headed towards only one singular event: An attempt on the life of George W. Bush by an American citizen.
Since 2003 the incidents that have reinforced and promulgated this cultural poison have only proliferated. For those that hate Bush -- and they are legion -- these dreams of the death of Bush by violent means seem either justified by his "many crimes and lies," or simply a bit of artistic playfulness well within the protection of the First Amendment.
Of course, threats against the life of the President are not at all protected by the First Amendment, but the lack of any Secret Service follow up to the threats has created an atmosphere in which they have proliferated. When things such as this are perceived to be without consequence by one's political foes they spread through the body politic like a slow poison.
The result is that once the body politic is poisoned enough to play with the idea of killing George Bush, it isn't much of a reach to extend that to the killing of Barrack Obama. It has doubtless entered the minds of many of our more depraved citizens much as the same idea rattles about the minds of Bush haters. It's another case of "What you throw into the ocean comes back in on the tide."
Although in my youth I would have been an acolyte for Obama, I could not at this point ever support him. Everything about his campaign arouses in me a deep and abiding suspicion. Everything in his very short resume is unpersuasive in terms of his preparedness. Everything in his record and his statements tells me he would be a disastrous president. But should Obama be elected, Obama will become my president. That's the deal with a democracy. You don't always get what you want or what you need.
That said, I think all sane Americans of good will can agree that something happening to Obama would be just about the worst thing to happen to our political system since those three terrible days in the 1960s. The abiding problem is that not all Americans are sane -- especially those of the political persuasion. That those who hate Bush have, over the past eight years, made an attempt on the life of Barrack Obama more probable is not at all ironic. It is horrifying and to their shame.
We can only pray that the Secret Service and other organizations charged with Obama's security are up to the challenge, because challenged they will be.
His physical safety yes, his political safety … not so much. ;-)
OOPS. System slowed way down. Itchy fingers create duplicate posts. My bad.
I guess I’m not THE ONE either, eh?
"For who now is your father if it is not me? I am the well spring, from which you flow. When I am gone, you will have never been. What would your world be, without me?"
Time to bring out the frogs and locusts. :-)
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Does this mean that The Governator is going to chop off his head so that McCain wins the election?
LOL,
I am just glad that he didn’t endorse Obamanation. I fully expected it.
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