Obama the Messiah

Jake Tapper at ABC's Political Punch site comments on the revival atmosphere that accompanies the Obama campaign:

Inspiration is nice. But some folks seem to be getting out of hand.

It's as if Tom Daschle descended from on high saying, "Be not afraid; for behold I bring you good tidings of great joy which shall be to all the people: for there is born to you this day in the city of Chicago a Savior, who is Barack the Democrat."

Obama supporter Kathleen Geier writes that she's "getting increasingly weirded out by some of Obama's supporters. On listservs I'm on, some people who should know better – hard-bitten, not-so-young cynics, even – are gushing about Barack…

Describing various encounters with Obama supporters, she writes, "Excuse me, but this sounds more like a cult than a political campaign. The language used here is the language of evangelical Christianity – the Obama volunteers speak of 'coming to Obama' in the same way born-again Christians talk about 'coming to Jesus.'...So I say, we should all get a grip, stop all this unseemly mooning over Barack, see him and the political landscape he is a part of in a cooler, clearer, and more realistic light, and get to work."

Joe Klein, writing at Time, notes "something just a wee bit creepy about the mass messianism" he sees in Obama's Super Tuesday speech.

"We are the ones we've been waiting for," Obama said. "This time can be different because this campaign for the presidency of the United States of America is different. It's different not because of me. It's different because of you."

Says Klein: "That is not just maddeningly vague but also disingenuous: the campaign is entirely about Obama and his ability to inspire. Rather than focusing on any specific issue or cause — other than an amorphous desire for change — the message is becoming dangerously self-referential. The Obama campaign all too often is about how wonderful the Obama campaign is. “

I watched Obama's Super Tuesday night speech. His audience was enraptured - some even moved to tears. They cheered his every phrase. All it was missing was "Amen!" and "Hallelujah!". After 10 minutes or so Obama had the audience in the palm of his hands, and did so without actually saying anything. The speech was completely devoid of any substance whatsoever. It was simply one emotional pitch after another, and that's been the trademark of his campaign and even his political career from the start.

And, that's what would make him the most formidable candidate to face John McCain in the Fall. His emotional appeal will draw the left to him as well as many on the right who will see McCain as an old, uninspiring man who can't even make a victory speech without a teleprompter.