Atheists don’t get elected to public office in America (very often). And so we see all the major players paying lip service to Gawd, or a higher power, or ‘spirituality’ or some other such claptrap.
But if I’m annoyed by political goddiness, colour me supremely irked by this:
Sen. Barack Obama drew his heartiest welcome of a two-day swing through Iowa in the state’s capital of inner peace.
To the frustration of the cameramen in the Fairfield town square, Obama delivered his remarks facing east, with the setting sun behind him blotting out their shots.
But here, there’s a power even higher than the television networks: Obama had positioned himself in alignment with the rotation of the earth, in accordance with the teachings of the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, whose followers moved en masse to this small Iowa city more than 30 years ago.
You need votes, and you’ve got to pander to respect people’s beliefs. That’s the part I’d be rotten at. I’d probably tell them that the Maharishi was a fraud, that spirituality is just made up, and then I’d challenge them to show me some yogic flying. In short, I’d get nowhere at all with the nutball New Agers.
Obama needs to pander to faith, I suppose, but does he have to wallow in it? Surely part of the job of President must be calling out bullshit of one type or another, and Obama looks incapable of it.
And how does the Democratic Party hold together when it contains the secular Left and the New Age spiritual left at the same time?
6 July 2007 at 1:00 am
Maybe Obama is just a fan of “Sexy Sadie”. $32mil in the war chest, he pandering to a lot more than classic-rock new agers, he sucking up to everyone.
Obama has stated that his favorite philosopher is Reinhold Neibuhr, which is strangely a good sign I think. Most candidates would answer that Jesus was their favorite. Jesus is ok I guess but he’s no Bob Dylan.