Regarding President Obama as
a 'Messiah' Does Him No Favors
"It's not just a matter of
adulation of Obama, but the attribution of saint-like qualities and more. Some
images depict him with halos or light radiating from his crown chakra. Some
compare him to Jesus, others even deify him: 'Obama is God.'"
Another messianic
tribute to President Obama was this painting, with Obama's head,
illuminated by sunbursts, emerging from the clouds over a bare-breasted
maiden, robed in an American flag, and emerging from a volcano.
On the day Barack Obama was
sworn in as president of the United States, a Jakarta radio station asked me to
take part in a talk show entitled Obama as Messiah. The topic didn't
surprise me: Many people in the U.S. and around the world have incredible
expectations of this man, almost as if he is, yes, a messiah.
What is the definition of
"messiah?"
"One who is anticipated
as, regarded as, or professes to be, a savior or liberator." With the
world in the state it's in, it is understandable that people yearn for a
rescuer, a "knight in shining armor," who will repair the disaster
around us and save us all.
So I Googled
"Obama messiah," and was amazed at what I found (try it yourself.
Here's one link that turned up: The Obama Messiah Blogspot).
It's not just a matter of adulating Obama, it's the attribution of saint-like
qualities and more. Some images depict him with halos or light radiating from
his crown chakra.
Some compare him to Jesus,
others even deify him: "Obama is God." A reggae song by Makadem, a singer from Kenya, the land of Obama's father,
was posted on the site: "Obama Be Thy Name, Thy Change Shall Come, Thy Will Be Done." [watch
below] This take on the Lord's Prayer is just one of an endless stream of, well
… hymns about Obama.
The Blogspot
is also packed with a huge selection of raves about the greatness of His Obamaness. "A Lightworker;
An Attuned Being with Powerful Luminosity and High-Vibration Integrity who will
actually help usher in a New Way of Being" (Mark Morford
of the San Francisco Chronicle ).
"His story exemplifies
the quest of the Solar Hero. Doesn't it feel as if some special hand is guiding
Obama on his journey?" (Daily Kos, liberal political blog )
"He's not operating on
the same plane as ordinary politicians. The agent of transformation in an age
of revolution, a figure uniquely qualified to open the door to the 21st
century." (Gary Hart, American politician and candidate
for president in 1988).
"Barack Obama is our
collective representation of our purest hopes, our highest visions and our
deepest knowings. He's our product out of the
all-knowing quantum field of intelligence." (Eve Konstantine,
from The Obama Vibe at the HufftingtonPost )
Obamamania was going at full steam even before the man was
elected, partly because he's inspirational, and partly out of relief that he
wasn't George Bush, considered by most Americans to be the worse president of
the last 50 years (ever, some even say). Muslim countries in particular saw in
him hope for a new era in relations with the West, a magic fix for the Middle
East from a President whose middle name is Hussein.
So it wasn't surprising that
the first three questions I was asked when appearing on the talk radio were,
"Why didn't Obama mention Gaza during the speech he gave at his
inauguration as the 44th president of the United States?"; "Would the
U.S. pay more attention to Indonesia now?"; and, "If Obama makes a
speech in a major Islamic country in his first 100 days (as many predict), will
it be Indonesia?"
The answer to the first
question is easy enough. As president-elect he was silent on Gaza, so why would
his inaugural speech - meant to confirm his commitment to American interests
and unify the nation - touch upon such a sensitive subject?
He will certainly try to instill
change, but it's frankly unrealistic to expect any American president to make a
sudden break with the past, condemn Israel, and risk losing the support of the
powerful Jewish lobby in the U.S.
Posted by WORLDMEETS.US
Not only that. The crowd
didn't come to Washington to hear about Gaza, Afghanistan or Pakistan. They
wanted to see with their own eyes the first African-American president, "a
man whose father, less than 60 years ago, might not have been served at a local
restaurant" take the oath of office and spoke words that affirm their
faith in American democracy. The Middle East will have to wait.
And as for Obama paying more
attention to us, it's wishful thinking to expect him to suddenly alter American
foreign policy just because he has childhood connections with Indonesia.
Of
course, repairing the image of the United States in the world is top of his
foreign policy agenda, particularly in Islamic countries. But the Middle East requires
more urgent attention than Indonesia. So does Cairo, for example.This is a U.S. ally and traditional center
for Islamic culture that would make more sense as a venue for a keynote address
to Muslims. The truth is Obama isn't a messiah, he is a politician. And
politics, as Bismarck said, is just the "art of the possible
."
Obama knows this well, because
as a politician he was shaped by his time in Chicago, famous for its pugilistic
politics, the "City of the Big Shoulders" and the home of Al Capone
(America's best-known gangster). Succeeding there requires real street smarts -
and that makes him a genuinely tough guy.
In fact, Delmarie
Cobb, a longtime Chicago operative who knew Obama long before he became a star,
claims that "there's a little bit of a gangster in all of us."
Posted by WORLDMEETS.US
Case in point: in his first
Senate election, Obama delivered what some call the "political
execution" of Alice Palmer, a friend and former mentor, who was also
running. Other interpretations are kinder, saying that challenging the
signatures on Palmer's nominating petitions is just normal procedure,
that Obama challenged the petitions of all three of his opponents, and
that in any case - Palmer wasn't a friend or mentor, just an acquaintance.
Whatever the case, it showed
that Obama could engage in bare-knuckled politics when he had to, and even supporters
of Palmer secretly admired him for it.
All of us have two sides -
yin and yang - and Obama is no exception. He may not be a gangster-politician,
but he sure ain't the messiah! Yes, he's a phenomenon
the likes of which we haven't seen for a long time, but he's also a politician
and very human as well.
And if we think he's any more
than that - it won't help him. He would run the risk of everyone turning
against him when their new god makes a mistake, as he inevitably will.
Digging us out of the worldwide mess Bush built isn't going to be quick or
easy, and it will require a firm grip on reality.
So thank God he's got
Michelle there to pull him into line and remind him of his flaws!
*Julia Suryakusuma
is the author of Sex, Power and
Nation. She can be contacted at:
