I have come out for Obama in the democratic race. As I mentioned I just think that the optimism of his message will resonate with many people because it resonates with a remaining shadow of our created perfection. Somewhere in our heart we want to reach above ourselves because in our origin we were made that way.
Just when I was patting myself on the back for this piece of insight comes Chris Hitchins writing in the online magazine Slate. http://www.slate.com/id/2185606/
If you have never read this guy he can be hard work - very wordy and wonkish. You may have heard of him recently as the author of a book that purports to blame God (or the idea of God - he, of course, does not believe in God) as the source of every problem in the world. On the other hand he is a very astute social commentator who completely skewers the empty slogans like “yes we can”. Yup, one of my favorites torpedoes my post on Obama! Not quite, but his short article is really worth reading.
I cant watch American elections now without thinking of the Lincoln - Douglas debates for the US Presidency. One of my favorite books, “Amusing Ourselves to Death”, by Neil Postman uses these debates as an illustration of how television in particular, by its very nature, dumbs down complex messages. You can get the book here: http://www.amazon.com/Amusing-Ourselves-Death-Discourse-Business/dp/014303653X/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1204669742&sr=1-1
The book makes the same point as Hitchins, we are heading down a road where TV messages are dominating how we speak about everything and dumbing down our conversation to the point of meaninglessness. Like I said, I dont feel so clever now.
As an aside, all Americans should watch a primary election from another country. Sometimes we do not understand how important we are to the world. Here in London the Texas and Ohio primaries are the number one item on EVERY news program. At the weekend in church we prayed again for “wisdom amongst the American people”. It was a reminder again of how God has ordained at this time the United States to have a unique place in the world and what an awesome responsibility that is. Let’s pray that we use this place in the world wisely.