Is anybody else waiting for James Fallows to reassess his snide opinion of General David Petraeus?
Everyone who has ever worked in an office will recognize the idea. The New Jesus is the guy the boss has just brought in to solve the problems that the slackers and idiots already on the staff cannot handle. Of course sooner or later the New Jesus himself turns into a slacker or idiot, and the search for the next Jesus begins.
Now, Petraeus hasn’t “won” Iraq or “solved” Iraq or produced “victory” in Iraq. But his plan, and his surge, worked to quell the slaughter that was featured on our TV screens every day for months and months and months and months. And the Iraqis seem marginally better off today, too—though hard information is hard to come by, because the media doesn’t report on Iraq. It reports on American celebrities in Iraq.
But back to that New Jesus thing. I’m wondering why nobody has thrown that obvious grenade at Barack Obama, who encourages the cult around himself while pretending that he’s being perfectly straight with people?
I don’t know the answer, but here’s a critic from the left who is definitely not buying:
Within the black faith tradition that Obama appeals to, hope is the belief that, in spite of all evidence to the contrary, our circumstances can be transformed into something previously unimaginable. It is this notion of hope—coupled with organized resistance from the people catching the most hell—that led to the end of slavery, Jim Crow, and apartheid. In Obama’s corporate-sponsored universe of meaning, however, hope is not the predicate for radical social change, but an empty slogan that allows for a slick repackaging of the status quo.
After Obama’s recent success with white voters, particularly his win in Iowa, many have announced America’s transition into a post-racial moment. Even Obama himself has claimed that race will no longer prevent the fair-minded citizenry from supporting his bid. In reality, however, an Obama presidency is already being treated as a racial talisman that would instantly heal the scars of a nation wounded by racism.
