Wednesday, October 29, 2008

The last temptation of Obama


By JOHN REMBER

In Martin Scorsese's "The Last Temptation of Christ," Satan's most cunning evil is to offer Jesus the simple life of a man with a loving wife and family. Instead of dying on the cross, Jesus can have the ordinary pleasures of love, work and the companionship of friends.

Jesus rejects Satan's offer, returns to his own crucifixion and at the end of the movie achieves salvation for humankind.

Barack Obama is gaining a passing resemblance to Scorsese's Jesus these days. Were he to cede the election to John McCain, Obama could go back to his beautiful wife and daughters, to his career as a constitutional scholar, to a community that would value his work. He would have time for himself, time to contemplate the beauty of this world, time to watch his family deepen and thrive.

Thus far he has refused that bright future. A lot of people are expecting him to instead take the presidency and save America. Admittedly, America needs saving from an administration that's treated it like the Rolling Stones used to treat motel rooms.

But Obama is no Jesus Christ. He's a man facing a terrible mess. He could spend his whole term just uncovering the truth of what's happened in the last eight, or trying to heal the divisions created by forty years of divide-and-conquer politics. He could spend his term restoring 401(k)s and pensions to the people who earned them.

Success in any of these endeavors won't make him popular. At the end of the day, the peacemakers and truth-tellers get run out of town. Look what happened to Jimmy Carter.

So it could be that the bright young Republicans running McCain's campaign are contriving for Obama to win. Looking toward total victory in 2012, they've saddled McCain with Sarah Palin and her $150,000 wardrobe and her belief in witches. They've given McCain contradictory talking points to reinforce the impression that he's a demented and angry old man, one who's lost the ability to understand the meaning of his own words.

To put it another way, John McCain is being hung out to dry by people who see his loss as a jump-start for their own ambitions. Young people in your own party will do that to you. Falter a bit, have a couple of melanomas taken off, lay off the Grecian Formula for a month, and they'll happily start putting footprints on your back.

If McCain loses, the Republican attacks on Obama will start on Nov. 5 and continue for four years. Even if Obama were the second coming of Christ, it would be hard for him to turn the other cheek to the race-baiting, the lies about religion and terrorism, the Tawana Brawley-style hoaxes, and the attacks on character that characterize contemporary Republican political discourse. Obama can promote the New Testament values of reconciliation, forgiveness, charity, mercy and tolerance all he wants, but he won't make much headway against the Old Testament commandments to exact an eye for an eye, destroy one's enemies unto the seventh generation, stone adulteresses and take up the sword against people who don't believe in your god.

Still, I don't think Satan is going to cool his heels for four years, waiting for another Republican to occupy the Oval Office. I think he'll start whispering a different temptation in Obama's ears.

"You don't have to be a one-term president," Satan will say. "People will vote for you again if you can keep these wars going, and maybe start a new one with Iran. Cut taxes for the powerful and wealthy. Make lobbyists a fourth branch of government. Send more jobs overseas. Relax environmental regulations. Tell everyone you're a Christian. Tell them to hate and fear everyone who isn't. When things go wrong, blame it all on your predecessor."

"Get thee behind me, Satan," Obama will say.

Satan will smile, shrug and say, "It's the same contract we offered George W. Two terms and an eternity of lucrative speaking engagements afterward. You'll never have to tell the truth again. John McCain is begging to sign this deal."

Obama, no doubt thinking of his little girls and their future, and possibly of his own soul, will turn away. Satan will get angry.

"Your loss, sucker," Satan will hiss. "They'll crucify you. But if you'd thrown in with me, we could have ruled the world."




 Local Weather 
Search archives:


Copyright © 2024 Express Publishing Inc.   Terms of Use   Privacy Policy
All Rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part in any form or medium without express written permission of Express Publishing Inc. is prohibited. 

The Idaho Mountain Express is distributed free to residents and guests throughout the Sun Valley, Idaho resort area community. Subscribers to the Idaho Mountain Express will read these stories and others in this week's issue.