The Obama Oracles...A Bridge to Nowhere

Friends of the Friday Forum:

The Obama Oracles…
A Bridge to Nowhere

“…(they) speak great swelling words of vanity that allure through the lusts of the flesh…” (2 Peter 2:18)

The Parties have chosen their candidates, finally. They stand in stark juxtaposition to each other. One, a charismatic articulator of an esoteric message of “hope and change;” and the other, a venerable soldier well beyond his prime who can barely cobble together a complete sentence.

We now have almost 6 months to decide our choice while attempting to digest the disgust the last year has dished out. Hopefully the news will finally focus on more important matters like: gas prices, credit constriction, food costs, home equity evaporation, low CD rates, baseball games and the Fall football rankings.

But this is about Obama. Mark Twain wrote in The Innocents Abroad these words about the River Arno in Florence: “… (it) is a great creek with four feet in the channel and some scows floating in it. They call it a river…they even help out the delusion by building bridges over it.”

Words is Obama’s strong suit. They drip like honey from his lips, these words of Hope and Change. They are universal in their subjective appeal to listeners, since we all have hope, and want things to change (for the better, I might add!). Sen. Obama has found a way with words to flesh out this concept, making himself “one” with the listener, and himself being the embodiment of the hope and change people want. It’s almost like the “word become flesh,” so to speak. It is frighteningly similar to the reign of Napoleon, when the French declared: “Napoleon is France, and France is Napoleon.” The outcome of this was disaster, as history records.

Words without substance are often dangerous. Remember the fiery harangues of Hitler, Huey P. Long, George C. Wallace, for example. Or more benevolent orators like Kennedy, M. L. King. Obama’s exceptional rhetoric flames the fires of emotional fervor, but his exposition of the words is hollow and sends a chill into the intellect.

From this pundit’s perspective, Obama’s oracular River of Rhetoric is shallow and toxic, burning uncontrollably like the Cuyahoga River in Cleveland….and by golly, Washington is not that far off! The words of Stanislaw J. Lech seem to apply: “Sometimes mud gives the illusion of depth.” Remember "Where's the beef," the words of Dave in the Wendy's slogan? Res ipsa loguitor.

From deep within the shadows Twain’s bridges over the Arno emerge. Led by the Prophet Obama, uttering great swelling words, throngs of smiling and starry-eyed people cross … to the other side of delusion.

Friends, The Great Divide will soon be ours to cross. Which bridge will you prefer?

Bud
June 12, 2008