By Jim Scarantino
Let me say this up front: Here and in The Weekly Alibi’s blog I’ve written glowingly about Barack Obama’s explosion onto the national stage. His nomination is historic, hope-affirming.
With that said, the cult of personality developing around Obama is getting scary.
We’ve seen this before. At the far right of the political spectrum, a culture of worship surrounded George W. Bush in 2000. By the time his criminal and dodgy military records surfaced, and the truth of his terrible inexperience began to break through his campaign’s spin, for a large part of the electorate it was too late. They couldn’t shake fervently held beliefs that W was The One to heal a troubled nation.
The first months in office revealed Bush to be a man unburdened by brilliance. His approval ratings sank. Then came 9/11. He was again the nation’s savior, the holy warrior, a prophetic leader imbued with superior judgment and wisdom.
Look where it got us. It has taken seven years for many of his worshippers to lose faith.
The Prophet Obama
Comes now another One: the Prophet Obama.
The July 21, 2008 cover of The New Yorker satirized the wingnut slanders of Michelle and Barack Obama. The cartoon drew Obama in Muslim mufti. He’s fist-bumping Michelle, who wears an Angela Davis Fro and an AK-47 over her shoulder. The American flag burns in the fireplace. A bin Laden portrait hangs above the mantle. The setting is the Oval Office.
Outrage. Chest-beating. Pundits and bloggers demanding, if not the cartoonist’s head, at least mass cancellations of New Yorker subscriptions. Op-eds in The Washington Post equated the cartoon to an attack on all black women for all time. Obama’s champions and adversaries alike accused The New Yorker of practicing the politics of hate.
“People,” an exasperated John Stewart pleaded, “it’s only a cartoon.” It was satire, for crying out loud, by a magazine that has lacerated Bush for eight years.
The reaction in some quarters was the equivalent of the Muslim world’s reaction to a Danish cartoon lampooning the Prophet Mohammed.
That’s scary.
Obama is human
Obama is an impressive human being. But he still pulls his pants on one leg at a time. He’s done admirable things (editor-in-chief of the Harvard Law Review, community organizing on
But Obama is also dangerously wrong on energy policy. And by breaking his promise on campaign finance reform, he’s shown himself to be a politician who won’t let principle get between him and power.
To zealous believers Obama is the American Messiah, a man without sin, a man of perfect ideals and the world’s only salvation. Granted, that’s hyperbolic. But even violating his promise to accept public campaign financing is treated as a virtue by his stalwarts. Criticisms of Obama, or questions about his background, amount to heresies. His campaign, like Bush’s before him, encourages such thinking. It effectively stifles unwanted talk.
Obama infuses his speeches with religiosity. Like Bush, he weaves Biblical code words and symbolism into his pronouncements. His proposal for increasing government financing of religious institutions goes further than Bush’s faith-based programs. Obama’s “Joshua Project” will organize meetings in thousands of homes. The topic: Obama, God and faith. If you attend a church, you may recognize that he’s mimicking one of the most intimate religious assemblies in
In 2004, the Bush-Cheney campaign did this in
An equal-opportunity heretic
I am a panelist on KNME TV’s weekly show, “In Focus/The Line.” Recently we discussed The New Yorker cover. I wanted to point out that things have gone so far we’re reluctant to mention Obama’s middle name because merely saying it aloud is interpreted as attacking the candidate. It’s just a name he was given. He had no say in the selection. But even John McCain once felt compelled to apologize for a speaker who dared to say what comes between “Barack” and “Obama.” I found myself succumbing to the very mindset I wanted to expose.
I regret my timidity. Obama’s middle name is Hussein. There, I said it.
To show I’m an equal opportunity heretic: McCain proved his character in
So burn me at the stake.
Scarantino has been recognized as one of the country’s best political columnists by the American Association of Alternative Newsweeklies. His work has been published in more than 50 newspapers. You can contact him at jrscarantino@yahoo.com.