[lbo-talk] not since Lincoln...

Dwayne Monroe dwayne.monroe at gmail.com
Mon Jan 7 07:43:38 PST 2008


Doug:

I'm not supposed to forward posts to the American Society for Public Opinion Research list; lemme just say that one member has now compared Obama's rise to Lincoln's.

................

Dennis P has taken heavy fire for questioning and making fun of this volcanic outpouring of praise but with each passing day, some hyperventilator proves his point.

I could probably make a quick buck by writing an essay describing the swelling pride I feel - as a black man, born in West Philly, a survivor of the mean streets where life was cheap and only government cheese cheaper, where rats were your playmates, pimps your geography teachers and heroin addicts your guidance counselors - at seeing Obama's magically delicious rise to prominence.

Comparing him to Christ would be going several steps too far; then again maybe not. After all, the American Prospect's Ezra Klein recently wrote: "[Obama] is not the Word made flesh, but the triumph of word over flesh, over color, over despair". Still, we're not all Mr. Klein. I'd probably have to find another luminous example. JFK has been taken, and now, so has Lincoln. I'm sure someone, somewhere has made the MLK link.

Perhaps I should compare him to George Washington. One was the 'father of our country' and the other can be described as the father of our multi-cultural, "post-race" country.

.d.



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