Essentially, the Left thought it had a “magic candidate” in Obama.\u00a0 He would be beyond normal criticism.\u00a0 He would be both person and symbol.\u00a0 He would speak with such power and transcendence that normal considerations of logic and rhetorical connection would not apply.\u00a0 His mystical relationship with the message of the future of mankind would resonate in each person of good will without having to be explained in detail.\u00a0 We would all just know that he was “the one” to change everything.\u00a0 Indeed, he seemed untouchable: though there were scandals and questionable relationships in his background, it seemed not to matter to the electorate, surely another sign that he was blessed.\u00a0 What other presidential candidate could have gotten away with being friends with terrorists and America haters?\u00a0 Surely it must have been because people could see through these surface things to the soul beyond, and were moved by its purity and grace.\u00a0 (After all, Jesus associated with publicans and sinners, and elevated them by His presence.)\u00a0 His meager background was almost a plus, proving his uniquity and special annointing.\u00a0 He was untouchable.<\/p>\n
And then came Sarah.\u00a0 She was, in most ways, the exact opposite of Obama.\u00a0 She spoke simply, and clearly.\u00a0 She seemed to get away with just being herself (unlike Obama, she was the same on home video as on stage before tens of thousands).\u00a0 She did not appear to self-consciously cultivate an image or presence: she simply was<\/em>.\u00a0 She did not seem to need a script.\u00a0 Shooting from the hip (literally and figuratively) she was on target.\u00a0 People simply responded to her.\u00a0 And despite the best the a scandal mongering media could throw at her, she simply sailed above it all, and let her acolytes defend her.\u00a0 There were pleny of acolytes.<\/p>\n Obama was supposed to be special.\u00a0 He would not have to make sense according to the normal rules of logic and evidence, because to know him created a faith that transcended the merely rational.<\/p>\n Yet, here was Sarah, actually making sense, very simple, unassailable sense, artlessly appealing to the perceptions of the people as the outsider who was the real agent of change, the unknown, waiting in the wings, whose time had come.\u00a0 She, too, was the symbol of longings held by many.<\/p>\n Suddenly, Obama was not the only transcendant figure in the race.\u00a0 He knew how to fight people who merely used logic and facts.\u00a0 He appealed to the higher sense of personhood in his listeners.\u00a0 But what could he do against someone who had as much mystical magnetism as he did, and also made simple, logical sense?<\/p>\n It was a pretty problem.\u00a0 Someone would have to be destroyed for the other to prevail.\u00a0 And Obama was determined that it would not be him.\u00a0 His minions would see to that.<\/p>\n There are plenty of minions, in and out of his campaign.<\/p>\n The contest rages, for now, but it is no longer one of rationality against spirituality, because now both can be found on one side.\u00a0 And the real game changer was not Sarah Palin…\u00a0 it was John McCain, who selected her as his running mate, proving a defter hand than anyone suspected at crafting his image and staying true to his own often stated values at the same time.\u00a0 And McCain is showing something else: he doesn’t care that Sarah Palin polls higher than he does, because all that matters is success in the election so he can do the work that needs doing, with her help.<\/p>\nShare this:<\/h3>