Jesus Shaves
November 12th 2008 01:48
Many commentators have been making a big thing of the "cult of personality' surrounding Obama, and the seemingly blind faith invested in him by an astounding number (and variety) of people.
We should all know by now, however, the dangers of investing - we've seen so recently how the stock market can slide. And investing too much hope is worse than investing too much money. You can always make more money. You can always declare yourself bankrupt and start again.
If you invest your hopes and dreams in someone and get no return for your investment you just become more cynical and less trusting. Of course cynicism is healthy in the right dose, but overdoses can be fatal.
It seems inevitable that Obama won't deliver the kind of returns that people are expecting on their investment. Who could? To paraphrase Monty Python, he's not the Messiah he's just a very haughty boy.
The thing is, where did we get this idea in the first place, that one person can save a country, let alone the whole world? If, as some have suggested, Obama does have some sort of Messianic complex, isn't that our fault for believing a little too easily and willingly and investing so many hopes and dreams in one man?
If you don't believe that Jesus was the son of God then he was just a very convincing public speaker with a gift for self promotion. Remind you of anyone?
The Ancient Greeks and Romans had many gods to invest their belief in - a different god for every mood and every situation. The Christian God slew all of those gods and jealously demanded that we believe only in him. He then gave us Jesus, the original action superhero, single-handedly able to save the world.
As faith in Jesus started to wane we were given Superman, faster than a speeding bullet blah, blah,blah. With the advent of cinema we were given Clint Eastwood, Chuck Norris, Sylveter Stallone and Arnold Schwarzenegger, men of extreme strength who could save the day without assistance, consulatation or negotiation. These men didn't need international treaties or institutions, they were men after George W's own heart.
It really should be no surprise that Arny went from Hollywood to politics - two careers that share the symbolism of the lone hero taking on the world and coming up trumps. Both McCain and Obama used this symbolism during the campaign, but McCain was too strongly linked in the minds of voters with Bush, whose own attempt to tie into movie-hero symbolism (his Top Gun style "mission-accomplished" moment) was a complete fiasco.
JFK and MLK were the superheroes of their day - unfortunately neither proved to be faster than a speeding bullet. I pray to the gods (all of them!) that Obama is never called upon to take the same test.
I don't believe in a single God. I don't believe that Jesus was the son of God. I don't believe that Santa Claus delivers every present to every child at Christmas. And I don't believe that Obama will single-handedly solve all of America's social and economic problems.
The most that I find myself able to hope for is that he will consult widely, be open to negotiation and compromise in both domestic and foreign matters, be more knowledgeable and less corrupt than his predecessor, and mostly just that he doesn't ever start to believe his own hype.
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