“If Iraqi people come at you with shoes, you have lost their hearts and lost the war and God help us all.”

I took the cake and cut the first slice. As I passed it to my right I said, “This is my Obama, given for you.”

No one gets the joke…

The question at work today, asked of the Religion Geek, was how long before Good Friday was that thing with the palms? Palm Sunday was the meaning. THe answer is it’s Four Days from cries of “Hosannah! Hosannah!” to cries of “Crucify! Crucify!”

I loved this line from today’s New York Times:

Mr. Obama’s advisers said they were startled, if gratified, by the jubilation that greeted the news of Mr. Obama’s victory in much of the United States and abroad.

Startled? What the heck: you were selling this man as the best thing since sliced bread and you are “startled” that people believed you?

Part of me wonders if the reaction of the Left Wing isn’t just a simple transference of “THANK GOD IT’S NOT BUSH!” I don’t think it’s sunk in to many white people that we’ve elected a President-of-Colour. I think the white people out there would have voted for Jimmy Carter and the Ghost of FDR. Or that guy from the show West Wing and Chris, the DJ from Northern Exposure. I think the left hates Bush and his ilk that much.

But they elected a Person-of-Colour and so amid all the white folks dancing in the streets there were quite a few non-white folks weeping. I don’t think the white people get this at all. Why? Because Prop 8 Passed in California and, predictably, some people are unhappy about it. And they are commenting on the painful irony of electing a Black President while shoving gays back into oppression.

And my very smart and sexy boyfriend points out that having our marriage rights denied is nothing compared to 450 years of slavery. Lo: the reaction is not pretty.

Outside the USA, the world knows we’ve elected a black man. How amazing is it that after 200 centuries of claiming to be a melting pot, we’ve elected someone who has a non-white, non-English (or Dutch) sounding name!

Another reason I think the left is confused is because Mr Obama is a moderate: not very progressive on most things, although I applaud his take from the rich and give to the poor attitude. (Why? Because in 30 years of Corporate Welfare, 20 years of supply-side presidents and 8 years of a Neo-Liberal Democrat have resulted in total chaos.) Obama is a moderate: middle of the road. Agonising over issues of morality and social justice but unwilling to advocate for laws in favour of the things he says he supports – and unwilling to go so far as his supporters want him to go in support of gay marriage (etc). He knows where his votes come from!

And so, today, as he picks Washington insiders for his team and admits to being “startled” about how popular he is, all things an adult politician should be doing, I wonder how long it will take before his followers realise they’ve elected another, well… politician. This is the same reason he cut-and-ran on the whole Patriot Act/Civil Liberties thing.

What is amazing is that our hatred of Bush so blinded us to the fact that this was another politician. The same charismatic folksiness about Bush that drove the left crazy is present in Obama: just in a charismatic urban way. It’s already driving the Right just as crazy. They’ve been using “Arrogant” almost as much as the left uses “Stupid”.

Most presidents have to wait until their first 100 days are over before the scales fall from their followers eyes. Obama’s followers seem to have forgotten that there are 3 months between the election and the Inauguration. They’re getting angsty and it’s only two days after the election.

I pointed out to a coworker that if, as an anchor, you have only the presidency of the United States, Tuesday must have been terrifying: change is always scary. If you have something else, it’s not bad at all. That’s the meaning of “Jesus is Lord”: it doesn’t matter who is hiding on Caesar’s throne, Jesus is Lord. Good gov’t, bad Gov’t. Jesus is Lord. Support the Gov’t, reject the gov’t. Jesus is Lord. Vote for him, submit to her will as divine monarch, or be imprisoned in a fascist state, Jesus is Lord.

That’s the good news.

I think a lot of faithful people imagine Obama will make living out the Gospel easier for them. I think a lot of faithful people imagine Obama will make living out the Gospel harder for them.

I think the only thing that matters is that Jesus is Lord.

As if I really didn’t understand
That I was just another part of thir plan
I went off looking for the promise
Believing in the Motherland

And from the comfort of a dreamer’s bed
And the safety of my own head
I went out speaking of the future
While other people fought and bled

The kid I was when I first left home
Was looking for his freedom and a life of his own
But the freedom that found wasn’t quite as sweet
When the truth was known

I have prayed for America
I was made for America
It’s in my blood and in my bones
By the dawn’s early light
By all I know is right
We’re going to reap what we have sown

As if freedom was a question of might
As if loyalty was black and white
You hear people say all the time–
“My country wrong or right”

I want to know what that’t got to do
With what it takes to find out what’s true
With everyone from the President on down
Trying to keep it from you

The thing I wonder about the Dads and Moms
Who send their sons to the Vietnams
Will they really think their way of life
Has been protected as the next war comes?

I have prayed for America
I was made for America
Her shining dream plays in my mind
By the rockets’ red glare
A generation’s blank stare
We better wake her up this time

The kid I was when I first left home
Was looking for his freedom and a life of his own
But the freedom that he found wasn’t quite as sweet
When the truth was known

I have prayed for America
I was made for America
I can’t let go till she comes around
Until the land of the free
Is awake and can see
Until her conscience has been found

from For America, 1986

Increasingly, I get the sense that we (average Americans) know nothing about this war other than what we are told – and the Gov’t is using that to their own advantage.

I have no idea if Raed is more or less biased than, eg, Fox News. But I know that more – not less – points of view are what is needed.