Anyone would think we had just elected a hip, skinny and youthful replacement for God, with a plan to modernise Heaven and Hell—or that at the very least John Lennon had come back from the dead. The swooning frenzy over the choice of Barack Obama as President of the United States must be one of the most absurd waves of self-deception and swirling fantasy ever to sweep through an advanced civilisation. At least Mandela-worship—its nearest equivalent—is focused on a man who actually did something. I really don’t see how the Obama devotees can ever in future mock the Moonies, the...