I see this accusation time and again. "Barack is the Liberal Messiah!" Hell, even Oliver North bought into this line of crap.
What I found so disturbing was seeing so many of my countrymen who apparently think -- or believe or hope -- that the next president of the United States will save us from ourselves. Sen. Obama has said we cannot "wait for some other person or some other time. We are the ones we've been waiting for." He would do well to remember that unfulfilled expectations are the greatest cause of anger on the planet. That's true whether it is between husbands and wives, students and teachers, employers and employees or leaders and the led. He also might recall that humility is a virtue that has distinguished our greatest leaders.
Hey Ollie, did you read what you wrote? I sure did and it sure as hell does not make sense.
How about this gem from A. M. Sariano of American Thinker:
This is a man who in less than two years has arisen as a political messiah. He has mesmerized an emergent block of college-age voters (whose chief sources of information, by the way, are comedians). He has inspired "Obama youth" corps and Maoist-style choirs of praise. He has been dubbed "the One" by his Matrix-saturated worshippers. He has captured the hearts and minds of half of America, nearly all of the media, and most of the world itself.
So he managed to nail is communism and messiah complex accusations into the same paragraph. Not a bad effort for a smear job.
Of course, it goes through the blogosphere as well:
Yet, they are more than happy to train school children to believe that Barack Obama is our savior and that he is the one person we must have faith in. It is another example of liberal hypocrisy and a prime example of the same type of madrasa-like atmosphere that extremists use to brainwash children and draft them into jihad.
There is something that they do not get, however, and this is what bothers me to such an extent.
Sen. Obama is not the Messiah. What he is, however, is human. Nothing more and nothing less. Obama has accomplished something that the you right-wing idiots don't get. He has managed to tap into something in us and Americans in general that you have not in almost 20 years.
The ability to believe in ourselves. To believe we can accomplish things both great and small, to do the dirty work to get ourselves back on the right track. Let me explain this.
South Carolina, January 26th:
Yes, we can heal this nation. Yes, we can seize our future. And as we leave this great state with a new wind at our backs and we take this journey across this great country, a country we love, with the message we carry from the plains of Iowa to the hills of New Hampshire, from the Nevada desert to the South Carolina coast, the same message we had when we were up and when we were down, that out of many, we are one; that while we breathe, we will hope.
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And where we are met with cynicism and doubt and fear and those who tell us that we can't, we will respond with that timeless creed that sums up the spirit of the American people in three simple words -- yes, we can.
New Hampshire, January 8th:
We've been asked to pause for a reality check. We've been warned against offering the people of this nation false hope.
But in the unlikely story that is America, there has never been anything false about hope. For when we have faced down impossible odds; when we've been told that we're not ready, or that we shouldn't try, or that we can't, generations of Americans have responded with a simple creed that sums up the spirit of a people.
Yes we can.
It was a creed written into the founding documents that declared the destiny of a nation.
Yes we can.
It was whispered by slaves and abolitionists as they blazed a trail toward freedom through the darkest of nights.
Yes we can.
It was sung by immigrants as they struck out from distant shores and pioneers who pushed westward against an unforgiving wilderness.
Yes we can.
It was the call of workers who organized; women who reached for the ballot; a President who chose the moon as our new frontier; and a King who took us to the mountaintop and pointed the way to the Promised Land.
Yes we can to justice and equality. Yes we can to opportunity and prosperity. Yes we can heal this nation. Yes we can repair this world. Yes we can.
That is where it began, really. To see it you, you have to go back to the beginnings.
In case you guys over on the right miss it, let me spell this out for you.
He doesn't speak of you or me. I and they. He speaks of us. He hasn't created a cult, nor has he created a religion. It's not about a messiah complex nor is it about a cult of personality.
It's simply about appealing to the better angels of our nature. A concept you people on the right have seem to forgotten.
I voted for Senator Obama in the primaries. I will vote for him again on November 4th, despite the fact my state may give McCain his largest margin of victory in this cycle. I vote for him because of hope. I vote for "that one" because I like his policies. I vote for you because he doesn't exclude people.
I vote for him because he isn't the Messiah.
I vote for him because he is human.
Is the "Mighty" Obama going to make mistakes? Yes. However, all politicians do, no matter how seasoned. You can ask Senator McCain about that if you don't believe me. But what matters is how we react to those mistakes and makes the best choices possible to avoid the big ones like say, oh...Iraq!
Obama isn't a communist. He isn't a fascist. He isn't a cult leader. Why? Well, let me wrap this up with an exchange from the movie With Honors:
Simon Wilder: You asked the question, sir, now let me answer it. The beauty of the Constitution is that it can always be changed. The beauty of the Constitution is that it makes no set law other than faith in the wisdom of ordinary people to govern themselves.
Proffesor Pitkannan: Faith in the wisdom of the people is exactly what makes the Constitution incomplete and crude.
Simon Wilder: Crude? No, sir. Our "founding parents" were pompous, white, middle-aged farmers, but they were also great men. Because they knew one thing that all great men should know: that they didn't know everything. Sure, they'd make mistakes, but they made sure to leave a way to correct them. The president is not an "elected king," no matter how many bombs he can drop. Because the "crude" Constitution doesn't trust him. He's just a bum, okay Mr. Pitkannan? He's just a bum.
He is just a human. Do you get that now? That being the case, should my choice come between the one who can make me believe in the ability of America to be the shining light of the world, and the one who seems to be getting more exclusionary by the day, I am going to vote for "That One" who makes me believe.
This is why I am with Senator Obama. I would rather vote for a human then a demagogue.