Are Democrats, despite their recent gains, too ideologically decimated to rally coherently, their strengths mitigated by the sheer diversification of their nonetheless like-minded members? And was Jesus a meanie bucket?
Perhaps Democrats need to find that mythic personality with whom we could all identify and who our chosen candidate could emulate and become its living, breathing avatar, just as the Republicans have.
Like Bush emulates Jesus. You know. Jesus Christ.
Republicans all but own outright the licensing of Jesus Christ™ (and the variety of flavors He comes in) and have mastered the art of unification, infrastructure and articulation of Their Message. So it would make sense that the Dems find some similarly inspiring superbeing. It's the only way to make those disparate elements gel into one cohesive entity. As it is, it's already proven witheringly difficult to unite behind a Get Out of Iraq Now! platform, given that (among other things) timely extrication is certain to become le cluster-fuque if undertaken with anything approaching the pompous Neo-Con bluster that got sand up our cracks in the first place. And of course, as we "redeployed" or whatever, the hooting and catcalls emanating from our international brethren would be of such volume, it would be hard to know if our egos could withstand the buffeting. You'd think it was Custer, not Christ, who the Republicans pray to, given their inability to ever veer from their path of rock-headed certainty.
But considering that millions of displaced persons from Iraq are literally sent wandering into the night having been turned away from overcrowded and undersupplied refugee camps, the groundwork for despair and fear and thoughts of revenge against the Great Satan has been and is being lain as we speak. Generations of disappointment with America's broken promises are waiting to spawn into roiling waves of hatred, thanks to the icy insanity of those disciples of the wavy-haired Western deity. The wagers of war, the deciders of policy that rape the spirit from those who want nothing more than to love, feed and clothe their own children and little else.
And if we can't curb the urge to wage war then we must at least resurrect (how Jesus-y!) the urge to wage peace: feed and house the displaced masses of people who would, ironically, desire to have all that America promises but rarely delivers nowadays. Wanna win hearts and minds? Relieve the suffering wrought from war and division sown by the mutant seed of radicalism: rad islam, rad christianity, rad zionism, rad capitalism. You want the wars to end? Don't bare fangs and claws. Bare compassion. Bare mercy. Bare humility.
Perhaps the symbol which would unify the confused assemblage will not be found in the sky or on a throne or wielding lightning bolts. Maybe by chipping away the layers of calcified crust that have encased the hearts of those that would lead us, the inspirational identity would become apparent, in fact show that it was there all along. It was probably the essence of the teacher from Galilee, the quintessence of the living and breathing Muhammad, the core of Abraham and the fundamental, hard fought component of the United States before the cowardly venality grabbed hold of these fragile entities and forced them to be the very things they were fighting against. Who is that person?
Got a mirror?