Obama Recast As MLK, Jesus, Leading Spiritual Youth Movement

By evening, on this primary day in New Hampshire, I'm expecting the waters of the Merrimack River to turn to wine.

After Obama's speech on the night of his Iowa victory, pundits began to speak about his ascension to Democratic frontrunner in terms of a veritable movement. But witnessing his campaign stops here, this movement seems less like a political one than a religious one. Earlier in his campaign, Obama spoke quite openly about his belief in Jesus Christ, reaching out to Christian voters with tales of his conversion and the role faith has played in his life.

In New Hampshire, this week, he's talking to people about salvation as well. But this time it's our salvation, and the messiah's word he's spreading is his own. And it's this godly fervor, not a political one, which may well be galvanizing the grassroots youth effort not just in New Hampshire, but across the country.

Obama's sermons setting forth his own transcendent leadership are not accidentally Christian in nature. He's internalized this practice so deeply that he's already joking about it in his stump speech. Like a pastor who asks first-time church-goers to raise their hands at the beginning of the sermon, he requests a show of undecided voters and beams his kilowatt smile upon them, saying "A light will shine down from somewhere. You will experience an epiphany." In the chortles of the crowd, you can practically hear the angels sing.

It's not his own resurrection Obama preaches, but that of the country, and that of ourselves. His litany on hope has basically nothing to do with politics and everything to do with incandescent inspiration. You want to know about his health care policy? He tells the crowd they can take a look at the 25-page report on his website. The members of the Obama crowd aren't here for policy talk. They can get that -- competently, fluently, impressively -- from Hillary Clinton at any one of her competing rallies. Policy is what the apostles tried to carry out on behalf of Jesus. A messiah speaks to something far bigger than the nuts and bolts; a messiah speaks to the soul. Policy is for Washingtonians who have already seen their own lights extinguished under a mountain of failed bills and anguished compromises. The candidate says his opposition warns, "Obama hasn't been in Washington long enough," and that they say he won't be ready to lead the country until they "boil all the hope our of him 'til he sounds like us," those damn Pharisees.

It's not Pastor Mike Huckabee who talks about his work in churches on the stump, as Obama does. Nor does he translate the "warriors for Christ" language that inflected his evangelical sermon Sunday into a Christian-tinged secular message: it's Obama who is calling on us to be "happy warriors for change." Likewise, Obama, not Huckabee, suggests Christ's teaching to love one's enemies, when he speaks in broad strokes about his plans to meet with opposing national leaders. "The people of Iowa vindicated my faith," he has exclaimed from podiums across this state, asking his new minions in New Hampshire today to do the same.

Despite his references to John F. Kennedy, the only political figure (other than our current president) who appears in his stump speech, it's Martin Luther King who he quotes most, and whose oracular patterns he adopts out on the trail. Obama's speech yesterday resonated with the same. "In one day's time," he'd say, opening up a new theme -- on change, on hope, on uprooting the status quo, on "repairing" not just America, but the world -- building to a vocal crescendo and then and circling back to that same clause, "in one day's time."

It's like listening to that scratchy recording of King delivering his most famous speech from the Lincoln Memorial, to which Obama refers frequently on the campaign trail, when he defends his concept of "hope" from the barbs of those "reality" naysayers. From the stump, Obama asks us to imagine Dr. King standing on those steps, looking out over the crowd and the reflecting pool, across to the Washington monument, and saying, "Sorry guys. False hope. The dream will die."

But King didn't run for political office. He didn't ask for votes. He stayed remarkably far away from the inner chambers of Washington, for a man with such a profound political effect on our nation's history. His job, most principally, was to preach. And yet, it's no wonder that listening to Obama speak, it feels like he's carrying us all along with him to the mountaintop. I've spent a lot of time in churches, reporting on faith in America. I'm used to being the atheist crying in church. I can handle that. But despite my skepticism and my pragmatism, when Obama speaks, it doesn't even feel shameful to be the reporter tearing up in the press stands.

When towards the end of his speech, Obama says, "I'm running because of what Dr. King called the fierce urgency of now. I believe that there's such a thing as being too late. That hour is almost upon us." I know this is cultivated. I know it's intentional. All the same, I practically feel an "Amen" threatening to escape my throat. This is what it feels like. It's feels like the opposite of every other candidate's campaign rally I've attended here. It feels like the ghost of Otis Redding is about to rise up behind the podium and sing "A Change is Gonna Come," while we all about to join hands.

This, dear reader, is what is galvanizing the youth vote, and sending packs of dewy-faced volunteers out to the street corners of the state to hoist Obama signs high over their heads today. I have traveled all over the country talking to the 18 to 30 set about what they are hungering for in a nation they say feels broken. They speak about the leadership they desire, the experience they crave, in spiritual terms, not political ones. The least politically engaged of them, don't talk about their crushing disappointment in their society in terms of political particulars, or even concrete ideas, they talk about what they want to feel. It's a spiritual search, not a political one.

This is the reason the Evangelical church has been able to attract and organize 25-30% of the country, by offering a feeling of change, of leadership, of salvation. Obama has been demonstrating that his brand of campaign spirituality can motivate a base, enlisting "warriors for change" in much the same way. Young people aren't going to organize en masse for policy initiatives. They're in this for a personal and national reformation. In those terms, you can understand why volunteers have driven from Texas and Arkansas and Illinois to tramp down cul de sacs in the melting snow to get out the vote, to sleep on floors by night and staff phone banks during the day, or why, in a mock election yesterday, 78 percent of Concord High School's Democrats chose Obama as their next president. It takes religion -- even a secular one -- to develop and organize a youth grassroots base in America today.

But will it last? Think back to who you fell in love with when you were eighteen or twenty. The deeper your initial infatuation, the higher the stakes. The greater number of nights you pissed off your roommate during too-vocal sleepovers during that first month, the greater the risk of getting your hopes crushed. And when your young lover presented his or her human weakness -- or unpreparedness for the relationship -- you'd be at the bar making grandiose statement about the opposite sex (if you swing that way), swearing never to date again: "they're all the same." Youthful love is fickle and delicate, and difficult to sustain for a few months, much less eleven of them. After you fall in love with how someone made you feel, and you stop feeling it, you might be tempted to announce your celibacy, or perhaps to choose your next date based on what he or she does, rather than how that person makes you feel.

In other words, what is happening today in New Hampshire is profound, to be sure, the stuff of love stories and conversions. The question is whether the love can last, and if it does, if Obama may be looking at his schedule next year from his desk in the Oval Office asking himself, WWHD -- what would Hillary do?

Check out HuffPost's comprehensive on-the-ground New Hampshire coverage here.

Comments

[rubicon101]

Well Done Ms. Sandler!

[jedley]

You nailed it, Ms. Sandler, square on the head. Now we've gotta figure out if Obama's pastoral abilities are enough to justify handing him the reins of political power.

[chamberslee]

People's willingness to accept a candidate based solely on rosy rhetoric is frightening. The fact that Obama has employed the strategy of missing controversial and sensitive votes (over 140 in the current Congress), showing up only to vote present and has not outlined specific proposals does not seems to concern his devoted followers. I do not understand. Missing votes allows him to avoid being pigeonholed, so he can pander to both sides of the aisle. Being vague allows him to flip-flop on the issues and then say he was taken out of context.

I am an African American who is not willing to put aside curiosity in favor of electing a black president. After seven years of Bush, I am more concerned with getting it right than making history. I criticize ALL candidates--no free passes.

I want to support someone who is going to improve the quality of life for my family and me. Is Obama willing to say unequivocally that he will overturn Bush's policies and restore the Constitution? Will he discontinue torture? Does he have a record of accomplishment of standing up for average citizens on health care, affordable medication, job creation, taxes, education and so forth? Does he follow his mentor"s (Lieberman) politics?

Obama is smart. He is taken advantage of our frustration with the Bush administration and has chosen an excellent slogan--Vote for Change. But he is not telling us what that change would look like. Why should he, though. Voters are not demanding that he be specific. He talks about bringing both parties together. Where have we heard that before?

Republicans are not concerned with compromise, unless democrats are willing to accept their conditions on policy issues. Maybe Obama is more than willing to vote on their side. He has voted republican numerous times on policies that hurt average citizens: making it difficult for citizens to sue corporations and against restricting the interest rate to 30 percent. Others cite sources that Obama has voted with Bush 53 percent of the time.

Look beyond the rosy rhetoric.

[tiye110870]

lol...with his SERMONS, his call to SACRIFICE, his virgin-like hope and messiah-like androgeny....OPRAHMA!

HILLARY wanted to be the NEXT ELIZABETH I, the QUEEN that encompassed all these traits, but, isn't it ironic that a BIRACIAL MAN from CHICAGO gave a better PANTSUIT PERFORMANCE!

lol...ironic, indeed!

[Serfie]

I think the point of this blog entry was to point out that Americans have become unthinking brainwashed zombies who are emotionally triggered by rhetoric--in Obama's and MLK's case, with religious oratory, in the other case(especially Republicans), appealing to greed and fear.

You know what?

I don't care about what a politician says and the way he makes me feel.

That is totally unimportant. I care only what the president will do for the country as a whole--and we have a lot more serious problems than making people feel good.

My fellow Americans frighten me; they really do. Mentally, they resemble Nazis and Al Qaeda wackos more and more each day with their sheeplike tendencies.

Give them a few empty words of soaring rhetoric that makes them feel good and they will do anything. Scary.

No wonder advertising in the US is a multi-billion dollar industry that gets Americans to buy a bunch of crap they don't need.

Hey, how about this idea, Obamanistas? Why not choose a candidate that will produce measurable results for the US rather than just saying stuff that makes you personally feel good.

If you want to listen to words that make you feel good about yourself, watch TV, or listen to music, go to church, or call your mom.

Or you can pop another pill, you know, like one of the many you see advertised on TV.

We live in a sick society, especially when so many are ready and willing to jump off a cliff at the drop of a hat if a politician says the right thing, in the right way, at the right time

[bluesnot]

These kids ought to take a look at Kucinich. He's the one who is going to decriminalize marijuana.

[texanna]

Great post, I completely agree, or at least completely hope you are right that there will come a time when the 18-25 year olds will lose interest and let the rest of us get back to the hard decisions we've got to make. There can be no new vision accomplished in this country until we kick the current crop of NeoNut Republicans to the curb and force that party to get back to the party that had brains that it was before Nixon. Edwards is right, you can't play nice with the people and multi-national corporations that own our country and control our government. They aren't interested in compromise or in letting go of ANY of their power. Look how successful Obama was in his big effort to seek compromise on the insurance legislation he was charged with. That legislation ended up looking pretty much like what the insurance industry wanted and not wha the people wanted. Look at the statements from the head of the Chamber of Commerce regarding what they intend to do to ANYONE that speaks ill of business. Look at how well bipartisanship and compromise are working out for Nancy and Harry. There are serious issues in this country and the world and I don't think anyone 18-25 has a clue and I don't think Obama has the skills or maturity to handle them right now. I am reminded of the movie that Robert Redford about the guy that one the senate seat and had no clue what to do! Very scary.

[jsarets]

Obama is tapping into the latent faith of the huge numbers of Americans who don't identify strongly with organized religion without necessarily alienating those that do (aside from the pro-life or bust crowd). Everybody has faith, but they express it in different ways. Obama inspires us to have faith in America and its people. He asks us to believe that there is nothing we cannot achieve if we stand together.

Even as a skeptical and jaded intellectual, I see the undeniable pragmatism behind this movement-oriented politics. Politics isn't about working hard or fighting tough. It's about leverage. It's about building coalitions and getting votes. It's about cultivating a popular mandate.

The Clintons are outstanding policy wonks. But when they took office, they found themselves trapped by politics. They couldn't push their agenda an inch, and they ended to shifting to the right throughout their presidency. The Clinton administration proved that great policies don't change America.

Look what the Republicans did with their "support the troops" rhetoric. They galvanized a huge base around whatever policies they wished to impose on the grounds that we have to support the troops. That's how change happens. Democrats have to tap into this kind of phenomenon in order to push through the progressive changes we want.

You cannot separate change and faith entirely. If a leader cannot inspire faith, then change will never happen. Change comes when large numbers of people are moved to believe. That's what Obama demonstrated in Iowa and New Hampshire, that's what's going to happen in the next few states, and that's why he's the best "agent of change" of all the candidates by far.

[zagyzebra]

I am alarmed at how Americans are buying into the Obama phenom so uncritically. Everytime I hear him, he is inspirational, to be sure, and equally uninformative. We as a society had best begin voting based on who has the best credentials rather than who has the best personality, or we'll find ourselves in another long term of ill-fated decisions based on emotion rather than pragmatism.

[research]

What does Obama ever say?

It's just mom and apple pie.

His specific ideas suck:

His Patent reform Ideas created a disastrous patent reform bill that would have legalized big corps harassment of individual inventors and small companies. It would have made it much more expensive for individuals to patent, and take much longer. It eliminates one of Americas greatest patent advantages:

In the USA, you can have your patent witnessed and set a invention date. This allows the inventor time to refine the idea and get investors, before getting on the patent treadmill. Once you get your patent, you have to pay big fees to keep it in force. These fees and the patent lawyers fees required are a severe hardship for individuals and small companies, in the 1-3 years while they are trying to get sales going. Monopolistic big companies often shortsightedly like the way this keeps down the upstarts.

The reform allows big companies to send fleets of lawyers to shoot down your patent before you even get it! Now you have to spend big bucks on lawyers before you even start!

This is Obama's "Gold Plated Patent". No thanks.

Say bye bye to the individual inventor.

A pro big corp, DLC, anti little guy bill if ever there was one.

Fortunately some responsible big business objections and inventors outcry combined to stop the bill the day before it would have gone into effect.

The biggest problem with the patent system now, is the insane decision to allow the patenting of software, business models etc... Regular patents on hardware for instance are usually less then 25 pages. Software patents can be thousands of pages. Most of it written in code that doesn't work and probably doesn't even compile. Software needs it's own separate system, NOT patents.

All the other Patent Office problems are just budget and management.

[xrayman]

I can't tell if Lauren is serious. At first, I thought it's tongue-in-cheek, then through the middle I thought she is the dewy eyed true believer, then the last line seems to be saying, "I'm pulling your leg."

I can't help but feel that people think Obama is JFK, Bobby Kennedy, MLK and Oprah all wrapped up in a smiling face and a pocket full of hope. Sheesh.

[Xiexie]

Great post. I completely agree.

[Sundialsvc4]

I think that folks who equate "the youth movement" with a particular "so-called candidate" are missing the most important point of all.

Namely, that: "you are missing the point."

"This train has left the station, and you're not on it."

"The same old thing is gone. This world is not the same."

There is no place in the twenty-first century for conventional political thinking.

[converse]

Silly me. I thought journalists had to talk to, and sometimes even quote, the people whose motivations they were describing. Apparently not. Just have to say how you feel and then attribute it to others.

[frustratedinohio]

You are so right. This is why only educated people should be allowed to vote, which is what our ancestors intended. I find comfort in the idea that if he wins the nomination at least he'll never be president. What does that leave us with? More of the same.