I agree with Donuel's take of the life of Christ, although ~ as a churchgoing semi-agnostic ~ I'm more open to the idea of his possible divinity.

I'm less sure about Obama's credentials as a similar sort of revolutionary. On the one hand, Barak does have an awful lot of corporate donors to whom he might be beholden. On the other hand, his message indeed speaks to a citizenry that needs exactly such a spokesman and, as Donuel points out, the bad guys seem awfully anxious to crucify him ~ and that alone makes him look pretty good.

Let's face it: it's impossible to make a successful run at the US Presidency without some support from Big Money. I think the best we can hope for in a political leader is someone who'll draw the line somewhere, and refuse to be totally beholden to his benefactors. Maybe, jut maybe, young Barack is that person.

I also think that what we need in a President ~ now, certainly, but also at every past and future time ~ is not so much a nuts-and-bolts administrator, but an inspirational leader. Cynics give Obama a lot of grief about offering "only" rhetoric, but I don't see that as a weakness at all; a skilled and inspriring orator is axactly what we DO need.

As examples, I could cite Lincoln, Kennedy, FDR, and other presidents almost unaimously recognized as great and important leaders. But I'll offer another example: Ronald Reagan. You may not agree with his agenda ~ I certainly don't ~ but he was tremendously effective in moving the entire nation to fall in line behind the same puppetmasters who were pulling his strings, simply because he was such a skilled actor.

Reagan need never have an original idea of his own, nor have been an espesically skilled executive, to have affected history as profoundly as he did. What we need now is a similarly inspiring figurehead to nudge us back in the oposite direction, and Obama sure looks to be our best bet fro that point of view.