The New Republic

Of all the complaints made against Barack Obama, the one I least
understand is that he's some kind of millennial cult leader. An ad
for John McCain and endless conservative commentary have harped on
the theme of what National Review editor Rich Lowry called Obama's
"secular messianism." Conservatives have sternly lectured Obama's
fans that he will not, in fact, deliver paradise if elected. I
agree! But why is this a reason to vote against him? McCain isn't
going to create heaven on earth, either. Obama, however, might
deliver health care reform and a more moderate federal judiciary.The image of Obama as a messianic figure rests upon an endlessly
repeated litany of bogus particulars. The first is that Obama's
fans faint at his speeches. Again, I fail to appreciate the horrors
of having a president whose rhetoric is so inspiring that it causes
listeners to faint. In any case, Obama isn't actually that good a
speaker. People faint at public gatherings all the time, especially
when they're in a warm building for a long time without enough to
drink. People faint at rallies for other candidates, too--Obama's
fainters just started to get reported on after the cult idea
arose.

The second factoid is that Oprah Winfrey called Obama "The One."
What Winfrey actually said was, "I am here to tell you, Iowa, he is
the one!" Inevitably, conservative critics capitalize the phrase
("The One") to create an impression of creepy messianism. In any
case, when you are trying to persuade your audience that a
particular candidate is the one they should vote for, there's
nothing inherently cultlike about calling him "the one." Unless, of
course, you consider campaign slogans like "Nixon's the One"
evidence of a personality cult.

Next, there is Obama's declaration that "we are the ones we've been
waiting for." The point, which he has made many times, is that
voters should take responsibility themselves for enacting change,
and thus that his supporters should not treat him as a savior.
Obama-as-cult-leader screeds insist upon reading the meaning as the
exact reverse. Conservative columnist Charles Krauthammer wrote,
"in the words of his own slogan, 'we are the ones we've been
waiting for,' which, translating the royal 'we,' means: 'I am the
one we've been waiting for.'" As a pundit, I'm intrigued by this
technique of taking a word out of your subject's statement and
substituting its opposite. Did you know that McCain's slogan,
"Country first," could be translated via the Krauthammer method
into "Country last"? Why does John McCain hate America?

Finally, there's Obama's line, "This was the moment when the rise of
the oceans began to slow and our planet began to heal." McCain's
campaign, and conservative pundits like Mark Steyn and Krauthammer
(again), have mocked this as a claim to divine powers. "Moses made
the waters recede, but he had help," sneered right-wing columnist
Irwin Stelzer. Call me a literalist, but I think Obama was
referring to his plan to curtail global warming, which is causing
sea levels to rise at a rate of approximately three millimeters a
year, rather than boasting supernatural dominion over the
elements.

Now, it's certainly true that some enthusiastic Obama fans have
displayed unusual zeal for their candidate. Yet it was only a few
years ago--before President Bush's approval ratings tanked and
conservatives decided that he wasn't actually a conservative at
all--that the right had its own personality cult. There was DC
9/11, the Stalinist-style propaganda film reimagining Bush as an
action hero boldly defying the terrorists on September 11. National
Review, which has published innumerable articles in recent weeks
decrying Obama's personality cult, was running advertisements for
bronze busts depicting Bush in his "Mission Accomplished"
fighter-pilot getup.

After September 11, James Merritt, then-president of the Southern
Baptist Convention, told Bush that he had been chosen by God. Bush
nodded. (Fred Barnes reported this encounter in The Weekly
Standard, concluding, "The stage was set for Bush to be God's agent
of wrath.") As Time reported, "Privately, Bush even talked of being
chosen by the grace of God to lead at that moment." Claiming you've
been chosen by God to lead the world in a titanic clash of good
versus evil is pretty much the definition of messianic.

The short-lived cult of Bush, in fact, merely reprised the cult of
Reagan that lives on to this day. Reagan kitsch has never gone out
of style among Republicans. Numerous conservative pundits have
suggested that any public policy question can be solved simply by
asking "What would Reagan do?" The Heritage Foundation has a
dedicated wwrd website. If, say, Brookings had inserted Obama's
name into a phrase usually reserved for Jesus, you can only imagine
what conservatives would make of it.

The hysteria about Obama's alleged messianism is, in part, a
calculated response to his wild popularity with the Democratic
base. McCain does not inspire strong loyalty among Republican
partisans. (Indeed, a year ago, conservatives were still savaging
him as a self-righteous poseur, and, while they've now discovered
virtues in McCain that previously eluded them, it's too early to
whip up full-blown Bush-style worship.) The cult accusation is a
way of turning Obama's strengths--his rhetorical skills and intense
support--into a weakness.

But it's not only a tactic. Conservatives appear genuinely freaked
out about the intense loyalty Obama inspires. They're used to their
side deeply believing in a presidential candidate. Seeing it happen
to the other party is a novel and disconcerting experience. How
long has it been since Democrats had genuine enthusiasm for their
nominee? Nobody loved John Kerry. I found Al Gore inspiring, but
not many others did. Democrats in 1992 were enthusiastic about
their party recapturing the White House, but most realized that
Clinton was kind of slick and untrustworthy. Jimmy Carter and
George McGovern inspired a bit of enthusiasm in some quarters. But
Michael Dukakis, Walter Mondale, Hubert Humphrey, and Lyndon
Johnson were all acceptable, and often respected, but not loved.

The spectacle of millions of genuinely enthusiastic Democrats
therefore rattles conservatives. And liberals, too--we don't like
personality cults, which is why you never see any bronze busts of
Clinton in anybody's den. The faith Obama inspires, though, isn't
irrational. While unnervingly inexperienced, he's a first-class
intellect and a first-class temperament. No, he's not the messiah.
But why wait for the messiah to feel optimistic?

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