Let Us Pray ... to Obama?
Posted:
09/30/08
The video below is flying around the internet, so you may already have seen it. Watch, then read on:
It is not produced by the Obama campaign. The description on YouTube makes clear that this was produced by volunteers, and without public school support. And yet ...
... it is eerie. What on earth are children doing praying to a political candidate? I'm not sure what bothers me most: Is it their glassy-eyed stares? Is it their Children of the Corn-fed good looks? Their hypnotized vibrato-less tones? (Note: the adorable opening soloist is not doing her own singing. She's lip-synching the voice of a homely young Chinese girl.)
Rest assured, if these children are ever successfully de-programmed, they will come to hate their parents. (And you thought the Yearning for Zion kids were in trouble?)
As I wrote in a recent post on Sarah Palin, elevating a candidate to the status of a religious figure is not just preposterous. It's dangerous. (Elevating them at all is dangerous.) Right now the candidates are on best behavior for us. That's because they want us to believe they deserve the keys to this (earthly) kingdom. Because with those keys comes barely imaginable power over us. It's our job to be as cold-eyed, dispassionate and skeptical as possible during these final 40+ days. After that we pretty much have to live with our decision.
Yes, Barack Obama has traveled a long way against some tough odds. That doesn't make him Moses. Yes, Sarah Palin courageously decided to birth a child with Down's Syndrome. That doesn't make her Mary. If we insist on treating these people like saints, only one thing is guaranteed: we will be disappointed.
So let's save the spirituals for after they've actually done something -- anything. (Sheesh, Eisenhower defeated Hitler before he became President and I don't think anyone ever prayed to him.) In the video above, Obama has apparently skipped beatification and gone right to canonization. (If only Mother Teresa had consulted with David Axelrod.)
The only special treatment we should give them? Judge them guilty until proven innocent.
Finally, if you're going to spiritualize something secular, do it right:
It is not produced by the Obama campaign. The description on YouTube makes clear that this was produced by volunteers, and without public school support. And yet ...
... it is eerie. What on earth are children doing praying to a political candidate? I'm not sure what bothers me most: Is it their glassy-eyed stares? Is it their Children of the Corn-fed good looks? Their hypnotized vibrato-less tones? (Note: the adorable opening soloist is not doing her own singing. She's lip-synching the voice of a homely young Chinese girl.)
Rest assured, if these children are ever successfully de-programmed, they will come to hate their parents. (And you thought the Yearning for Zion kids were in trouble?)
As I wrote in a recent post on Sarah Palin, elevating a candidate to the status of a religious figure is not just preposterous. It's dangerous. (Elevating them at all is dangerous.) Right now the candidates are on best behavior for us. That's because they want us to believe they deserve the keys to this (earthly) kingdom. Because with those keys comes barely imaginable power over us. It's our job to be as cold-eyed, dispassionate and skeptical as possible during these final 40+ days. After that we pretty much have to live with our decision.
Yes, Barack Obama has traveled a long way against some tough odds. That doesn't make him Moses. Yes, Sarah Palin courageously decided to birth a child with Down's Syndrome. That doesn't make her Mary. If we insist on treating these people like saints, only one thing is guaranteed: we will be disappointed.
So let's save the spirituals for after they've actually done something -- anything. (Sheesh, Eisenhower defeated Hitler before he became President and I don't think anyone ever prayed to him.) In the video above, Obama has apparently skipped beatification and gone right to canonization. (If only Mother Teresa had consulted with David Axelrod.)
The only special treatment we should give them? Judge them guilty until proven innocent.
Finally, if you're going to spiritualize something secular, do it right: