AJ DiCintio

The Merely Human Messiah and the Sea
October 27, 2008

"The path to my fixed purpose is laid with iron rails, whereon my soul is grooved to run. Naught’s an obstacle, naught’s an angle to the iron way!” (Ahab, Moby Dick.)

Perhaps it occurred during the time he spent absorbing the liberalism of Columbia and Harvard into his already leftist dominated psyche.

Or during his stint "organizing” Chicago’s Altgeld Gardens into a community that, when he left, looked pretty much as it did when he arrived.

Or as he cast another "present” vote in the Illinois Senate, thereby freeing up time to supplement his Chicago Political Machine education with lessons taught by power grubbing liberal bosses of the Illinois Democratic Combine.

But whenever it happened, it happened. And so it was that even as the thoroughly unaccomplished, audaciously ambitious U.S. Senator-elect took the oath of office, he thought of nothing else except to rush toward his "fixed purpose.”

Yes! He would set sail for the presidency! Not as a mere mortal, mind you, but as a Messiah.

Messiah? Some of his confidants must have fretted that striking such a pose would risk alienating his base that scrupulously attends to every "secular” tenet of the Liberal Church.

But he smiled a smug smile to those worried faces, reminding them that because his "life story” is cemented in the ideology of the political left, it sends liberals into a rapture more fiery than the ecstasy that consumes them every time they dream of a Supreme Court populated by nine liberal activist justices.

Therefore, he could and would run as a Messiah — albeit one who dodges giving an answer that might offend liberal sensibilities by claiming that the question lies "beyond his pay grade.” 

Then, supremely confidant that he and his disciples would neutralize questions that delve into his true ideology and his radical alliances by hurling outrageous charges of "racism” and "gutter politics,” he announced his intentions.

From where? Like a perfect political Messiah, this son of Chicago chose the hallowed soil of Springfield, Illinois, expediently turning his back on the politically radioactive turf about which he loves to boast, "It was in [Chicago’s] neighborhoods that I received the best education I ever had, and where I learned the true meaning of my Christian faith.”

"At last the anchor was up, the sails were set, and off we glided. It was a sharp, cold Christmas; and. . . we found ourselves . . . cased . . . in ice. . .” (Ishmael, Moby Dick.)

(How appropriate it is that on an ironic, dangerous, foreboding Christmas, the Messianic Ahab — perhaps a phantom thrill running up his ivory leg — sets off to "change the world.”)

From Springfield, Messiah, too, set sail "preternaturally confident” (Washington Post). However, unlike the dour, megalomaniac of Nantucket, he stood at the helm wearing a permanent, smug smile that to this day sends adoringly hysterical crowds of true believers fanatically applauding his every act and word.

Yes, sir, whether Messiah is blowing his nose or uttering meaningless nonsense that informs us "We are the ones we’ve been waiting for. We are the change that we seek,” all of starry-eyed Liberaldom explodes in agreement with Gary Hart that he isn’t "operating on the same plane as ordinary politicians.”

Fireworks of gratefulness each time The One addresses his flock! That is, if breathless and teary-eyed, the faithful aren’t beholding their wondrous savior with a reverent silence, solemnly sharing a spiritual kinship with Deepak Chopra, who in perfect Gobbledygook gushes the claptrap that Messiah is already responsible for "a quantum leap in American consciousness.”

The fanaticism — including a million insufferable repetitions of the term "transformational” — may not be of the kind that pierces our memories as if it were made of a million shards of exploding ice. And yet . . . not even a single worrisome peep from the "superior intellects” of liberal academia, the media, and politics.

"A sky-hawk . . . went down with [Ahab’s] ship, which, like Satan, would not sink to hell till she had dragged a living part of heaven along with her. . .” (Ishmael, Moby Dick.)

Herman Melville could fill the pages of Moby Dick with profound truths about human experience in large part because "A whale-ship was [his] Yale College and [his] Harvard.”

Foremost among those truths is that the inevitable downfall of a merely human savior harms much more than the Messiah himself.

In point of fact, and a terrible fact it is, such a Messiah takes with him — as Ahab took with him both the Pequod, its crew save one, and a "heavenly bird” that lived in "its natural home among the stars” — not just the best of human works but something of God’s creation.   

Aware of that frightening truth, millions ask questions of the Messiah from Chicago, hoping, for the good of the country, to create an important "national discussion.”

They ask why he practices politics as usual, offering promises, promises, and more promises to expand government enormously.

They ask why he refuses to speak the truth that he has nothing to offer "but blood, toil, tears, and sweat [because] we have before us an ordeal of the most grievous kind.”

However, he answers repeatedly with the old political lie that implies he can so greatly multiply the money he obtains by "taxing the rich” that he will make what was done long ago with loaves and fishes appear infinitesimally small.

They ask why he proposes to place a permanent vehicle for socialist/Marxist redistribution of wealth in the tax code, hidden under the guise of providing a "tax cut” to those who pay no income tax whatsoever.

However, he answers that profound question merely by insisting that goodness and prosperity result when politicians take money earned by the sweat of other people’s brows to "spread the wealth around.”

They ask why his energy "plan” disdains drilling (including for natural gas) and nuclear power, to focus only on "investing” in new technologies that will not be able to replace existing fuels for decades, thereby forcing Americans to keep the faith as they hope against hope that the price of fuel for cars and homes won’t inexorably rise to levels that make today’s prices seem mild and harmless.

However, he answers by essentially mocking Ben Franklin’s warning that "He who lives upon hope will die fasting” while his disciples defend the mad gamble by railing against proponents of a "do it all” energy solution as environmental and technological troglodytes.

They ask why he thought it no big deal to serve on a committee with Bill Ayres, despite the following truths:

(1) Ayres is an unrepentant former terrorist who more than once since 9/11 has said he doesn’t regret setting bombs and should have done "more” — including, apparently, "more” to successfully bomb a dance at a New Jersey army base.

(2) The "work” he performed with the still radical Ayres consisted of foisting a leftist agenda of "activism” (disguised as "social justice education”) upon Chicago schoolchildren desperately in need of solid teaching in the three R’s.

They ask whether he thinks it "beyond his pay grade” to say whether or not it would be no big deal for an American to serve with a similarly situated "education expert,” for example, a defiantly unrepentant, still radical associate of Timothy McVeigh who insists he ought to have done "more” and who proposes lessons in "community activism” as the best educational reform for children and their teachers.

However, he answers by playing politics with carefully rehearsed, cowardly, evasive answers that aim to deflect our attention to Messiah as an eight year old.

They ask why he should be trusted to oppose the extremist, far-left agenda sure to arise from the Democratic hegemony of the next House and Senate, where Democratic leaders are up to their eyebrows in government’s share of the blame for the mortgage debacle.

However, he insults his questioners with this ridiculous answer: "Unlike my party’s leaders, I support charter schools.”

They ask why he broke his promise to participate in the federal election funding system, becoming the first major party candidate not only to "go it alone” but also to raise an astounding $600 million, much of it from powerful institutions and rich donors.

However, the man who is adamantly unwilling to admit that the prodigally swilling federal government is broken answers that he behaved as he did because this tiny part of the federal government is in need of repair — with a scalpel and a few stitches, of course.

"And I only am escaped alone to tell thee.” (From Job, as quoted in the "Epilogue” of Moby Dick.)

For all of the reasons mentioned above and many more, Americans should think twice, even ten thousand times if necessary, before they join the maniacal throngs who scream madly or sigh prayerfully at every word uttered by a political Messiah who boasts of his ability to "perfect this nation” and "change the world.”

But not upon this author’s opinion.