America’s Struggle with Success

So who is your Messiah? Or don’t you have one? Millions of Americans have swooned over Barack Obama like hysterical teenagers at a concert. Repeatedly we hear descriptions of the mesmerizing effect he has on people. Magic is in the air when he speaks—amazingly attracting a recent audience of 100,000 in St. Louis. When even your critics get in on the act you know something is up as evidenced by Russ Limbaugh’s humorous and sarcastic references to Obama as the “Lord Obama the Messiah.” But sometimes humor strikes close to home.

The overall reaction to Obama could be described as just this side of Messianic, and some have even crossed over the “M” line, maybe a lot further than they realize. The truth be told, “Messiah” or “political Messiah” is not too strong an image, and “Messiah-like” references to him are commonplace. Just take a look at this Google search. Indeed Obama himself has gotten in on the act by boldly proclaiming, “We’re the ones you’ve been waiting for!” He has also suggested his magical powers by promising “change” and “hope”—strikingly similar to “love” and “peace” as promised by a real Messiah.

The spectacle which unfolded the night of his nomination at the Democratic National Convention before 80,000 strong at Denver’s Invesco Field was carefully choreographed along the same lines. If we just listen we can see this is where “Obama the Messiah” was really born and why. All other ideas about him that night paled in comparison to the historical event of his being the first African-American to be nominated by his party for president. We were reminded a thousand times that Obama’s acceptance speech was taking place on the exact date of Martin Luther’s King Jr.’s famous, “I Have a Dream” speech calling for a colorblind society. Even his opponent, Sen. John McCain, took a break from the political combat to run a national ad, “Job well done,” congratulating Obama on his historic role.

Basically, Obama stands before us without any experience or notable achievement in national office. Having admitted that he is much too inexperienced to be running for president, he’s asking us to entrust him with the highest office in the land largely for one reason—he is African-American. As Cal Thomas noted, America is dying to elect a black president. But why are we so desperate for one?

Obama senses something deep in the American people and in himself—guilt.

Intuitively, he understands that we’re still in the midst of resolving a post-traumatic post-racism stress disorder (PT-PR-SD) which we haven’t completed despite having made significant progress. After all, PTSD takes time to resolve. Sensing the moment with his externally attractive attributes—nice wrapping paper—in place he offers America redemption. He offers a chance to prove ourselves, to wipe away in one fell swoop the blackest mark on the history of our great nation. Obama’s powerful message secretly is, “Vote for me and you’ll show the world you couldn’t possibly be racist, that you, the enlightened, have risen above that. I’m giving you the opportunity to undo all the cultural guilt of racism that hangs around your neck like an albatross.”

The media reminds us of this guilt everyday because that’s the only way they know how to deal with their own—attempt to lay it on Joe American. And it’s a guilt that black leaders like Obama continually play on as they call for reparations. They do so even as the request for reparations reveals their own guilt, reveals they’re still living in the past as a victim. Entitlement causes guilt because it undermines self-achievement—as black columnist Cynthia Tucker noted. She chided “Jesse Jackson and his ilk…(who) have long propounded…black grievance and white guilt…reluctant to acknowledge the rise of an educated  and independent-minded black professional class.”  And we should add that that professional class has effectively overcome whatever racism was in their way¹.

But picking a candidate out of guilt and not because he’s qualified is indeed the wrong solution, one based on entitlement and not achievement. It’s the way Obama has gone about being elected—which tells us he’s the wrong man at the wrong time. A “colorblind” goal can too easily become a totally blind strategy if it’s not carefully implemented. A sympathy guilt vote is the wrong vote.

We must not miss the main point in all this: guilt secretly controls the human race and hidden guilt has its ugly painful fingerprints all over this election. Racism has become the focal point of all our sins which makes a black presidential candidate like Obama automatically the Messiah. Then he can become the litmus test for absolution, the standard by which the guilt-ridden elite media can scapegoat the non-believers, the standard by which those victims of racism can channel their own personal guilt.

People who are puzzled at the elite media’s overt cheerleading for Obama and failure to investigate Obama’s highly questionable past—remember Messiahs have no faults. Be puzzled no more. Just go back to the basic Sunday school lessons you grew up on, and you’ll understand. Deep permanent guilt (apart from absolution) haunts the human race—and, to turn a phrase, our guilt is far broader than race. Breakthrough psychological research has revealed universally far more hidden unconscious guilt in individuals over more numerous issues than ever imagined².

Obama’s problems with guilt are like every other human being’s, but his writings and beliefs reveal that he is largely in denial. A man awash in denial can’t be his own Messiah or anybody else’s.

The danger of putting all your faith in a short-term Messiah is that you reap only the benefits of short-term solutions. Obama and many followers seek absolution in all the wrong places. If Jesus came back today and were interviewed on all the talk shows about his political opinions, the first thing he would probably say is, “As I told you, the speck you see in your neighbor’s eye is the log in your own.³”

It’s all about how we handle our guilt—individually and corporately. Obama’s magical solution that he can provide all the answers to our collective guilt reeks of a false Messiah.