His Dark Materials
And for this reason, God will send them strong delusion that they should believe the lie...
II Thessalonians 2
The cult of Barack Hussein Obama is disturbing.
I thought this was a race to nominate the Democratic candidate for the presidency. Instead, there is a slowly unfolding cult of personality that has two words to its mantra: "hope" and "change."
My question is: what exactly is this hope and change and how much is it going to cost?
I've listened to a few of Mr. Obama's speeches and seen about three debates. He talks nice. He smiles. He seems to have good posture when he's sitting down. But for all the unending positive adjectives to describe him, I have yet to understand exactly what he stands for and where the details are in his plans for America. So far, I don't like what I see.
The lack of depth to his plans (which don't really differ that much from Hillary Clinton) is compensated by the curious emotional attachment to what his believers claim about him. I see the swooning, the deep emotional tie that his followers have and the throngs of people filling up stadiums or other large venues to listen to him. The story about Barack Obama isn't about Barack Obama: it's about his followers.
This makes me worry, because we've seen people flock around a charismatic individual before, and swear by everything they own that they believe in him not really what his words stand for. And for Mr. Obama, I don't know what he stands for at all.
His followers tell us that Mr. Obama is going to take the country into a new direction. A new direction towards what? And how much does this cost? Lest anyone forget, we are still involved in two wars: is the new direction one that leads out of Iraq, under the rubric of cut and run? Or is that new direction one that leads to cozy chats with Presidents Bashar Assad of Syria and Mahmoud Ahmedinejad of Iran? Mr. Obama stated that he wants to have a dialogue with them; both of them sworn enemies of Israel and no true friend to the United States. A nice long, talk. To accomplish what?
On the subject of Israel, I have no inclination what his position is at all, but I do know that the Arab states find a great deal of interest in him. Why is this? What is his response to that? For me, that makes me uneasy because all the troubles of the Muslim world are put at America's feet; is Mr. Obama going to cut and run from Iraq and then apologize to the Muslim world for the evil that we bring to everybody and then turn on Israel? The only functioning democracy in the region might be the sacrificial lamb in an effort to appease the radical Islamic elements in the Arab world, leaving Israel truly alone. Is Mr. Obama going to make promises to the Arab world that will compromise our security as a method of appeasement?
These are things that I do not know about, but am uneasy because his followers aren't providing answers: they're too busy telling me that he represents the new, the historic, the unheralded. But what does it all mean?
He's gotten remarkably good, hands-off press. The media likes him very much, so much so that previous favorite John McCain finds himself the target of the "New York Times" and its story suggesting not only an affair, but situational ethics when dealing with a lobbyist. The Times claims its readers missed the bigger point of the story, which must mean everybody since they've received so much negative mail in response to the story. Yet when Michelle Obama makes a comment the for the first time, she's "proud of her country," there's no page-one, above-the-fold treatment. And since then, the story has receded. It is a sign of things to come: the media will attack Mr. McCain and protect Mr. Obama. Why?
And on the subject of bad press, Bill Clinton's "fairy-tale" remark was thrown way of out proportion, turning him and Mrs. Clinton into private racists. But I've yet to see any media outlet call Mrs. Obama "unpatriotic" or insinuate anything about her that could be negative. Why?
Mr. Obama hasn't proven anything with his track record that informs me that he's ready to sit in the Oval Office. He didn't even finish out his one term in the Senate, a fact that no one seems to care much about. And he obtained that seat in a race the local dog catcher could have won, against Alan Keyes, no less. But his ability to seduce thousands of guilty white people has put that one away in the closet, I suppose.
The idea that he's a clean candidate is deeply naive. He's out-raised Hillary Clinton; where is all this money coming from? Only from white liberals? Unions are endorsing him left, right and center: doesn't that mean he's beholden to their interests? Oh, I forgot, that only applies to Mrs. Clinton, since she's been labeled the "Establishment." What is America going to get for its investment in this smooth talker? If he gets the nomination and wins the presidency, how many days do we give him a free pass? 100? 200? We will blame Congress for everything because he's new to the job? Or will we claim that it's all racism that prevents him from fulfilling a thousand and one promises he's given America under the banner of "a new direction."
Yes, It is About Race
Mr. Obama's campaign has played the race card very well. Only thing is, the media has provided cover for him so that no one can say that he's calling the Clintons racist. Or that not voting for him is a racist act. Make no mistake: if he wins the nomination but loses the presidency, how long will it take before someone says it's because America is a deeply racist country? The smooth-talking gentleman from Illinois might not say it out loud, but his media acolytes will.
But if Mr. Obama is transcending race, as his followers tell us, then why does his church, Trinity United Church of Christ, stress the black community first above everything else? If we've moved way beyond that, why belong to an organization that is community-specific? For street cred? And remember, this is a man who promises a "new direction" and "change" for the country: doesn't that mean black and white?
If someone tells me that a person's personal religious beliefs are not anybody's concern, I'd say you're living in the wrong country. No one can run for public office in this country without religious beliefs as part of the package, despite the fact that liberals pretend otherwise. I am not suggesting a religious test, but pointing out a trait of the body politic when anyone runs for office.
So, with the media establishment backing Mr. Obama, and his followers informing us that all we need to do is believe, what could possibly be wrong? If there's so much history at stake, shouldn't we be privy to learning the details of this historic change? I haven't seen anything to the contrary. We have no explanations about anything regarding Mr. Obama's plans. This makes me uneasy, doubly so with the cultish behavior of his followers. The ability to charm, the media promoting him, his believers swearing by his very person: what could be wrong with that?
I cannot discern one thing about Mr. Obama that is concrete, detailed, or even workable. I have no conception how the Iraq and Afghanistan wars are going to be conducted, other than the promise of cutting and running. What is ultimate purpose of all this? What are the goals of his ambitions, ones that clearly don't include finishing out his term as senator from Illinois? Why a rapprochement with Muslim leaders that hate the United States and whose proxies have carried out terrorist attacks against our interests in the Middle East?
Smooth speech, cultish adoration, media outlets promoting him uncritically: what is your real agenda, Mr. Obama?