ETHOS

By Cami King

A group of my friends attended a Barack Obama rally on Friday where they managed to claw their way to the front of the crowd and take their place at center stage for the event. Upon their return, I asked about the rally, and one of them exclaimed, “WE TOUCHED HIM!” She then explained that they were given the opportunity to shake Obama’s hand and tell him how much they love him. I took issue with the description of their interaction with the presidential candidate for it bore an eery resemblance to a familiar story. If the woman with the issue of blood (the one who touched Jesus and was healed) had been a college student, the aforementioned encounter would fit seamlessly into either of the synoptic gospels. However, I doubt touching the hem of Barack’s garment (or even shaking his hand) will produce similar effects.

The media is having a field day with what they’ve dubbed Obama’s “rock star status”. His competitors have also latched onto this idea in their attempts to discredit his ability to lead the country, attributing his success during the election to the fact that he is a rock star (which implies that Paul McCartney could too run for president and give Hillary Clinton and John McCain a run for their money. I am not sure what they are attempting to say about themselves with this argument.) As far as policy is concerned, the only person who should be worried about this pedestal Obama is being placed upon is the man himself. It seems nearly impossible for him to live up to what some are expecting of him because the expectations can only come to fruition by the stroke of some minor miracle.

If Obama is elected and does anything short of magically erasing the effects of the Iraq War, cultivating universal health care that doesn’t translate into mediocre health care (as it does in most places where universal health care exists), providing jobs for all who find themselves unemployed, taking the gas prices back to a nickel a gallon, feeding the hungry, clothing the naked, moving mountains, calming raging seas, and possibly even jumping onto a cross for the remission of sins, then I am not sure how he will live up to the expectations, said or unsaid, of the public. I have heard one too many Obama supporters say he is their “hope for the future” or explain how without him as president, America is “doomed” to damnation. How does one know that Obama will rescue America from said damnation? And furthermore, how does that knowledge translate into such certainty, prompting the placement of future hopes and dreams into the hands of this candidate?

This is not the first time we’ve seen this kind of elevation of a political leader take place. Martin Luther King, Jr. assumed rock star status at the height of his political career. I have attended my fair share of concerts and rarely do I see a crowd quite like that at the Lincoln Memorial on August 28, 1963. However, near the abrupt end of his political career, his public ratings were lower than ever and people were tired of hearing him. This was arguably because, much to the dismay of his followers, problems actually still existed in the world (even with King as their leader) and they knew not what to make of that.

King’s true deification, however, came after death. Since April 4, he has been elevated so far beyond the point of his humanness that some aspects of his personal life are either outrageous and grievous or unaccepted by his flock. A friend of mine informed me that she couldn’t eat for days after being told in grammar school that Martin Luther King, Jr. had extra-marital affairs and smoked cigarettes. My mother still doesn’t believe there is any reason for anyone to think King was an adulterer. And they are not members of the uniformed masses. Michael Eric Dyson, with the release of I May Not Get There with You: The True Martin Luther King, Jr., took much heat for exposing King’s imperfections and insecurities and revealing personal struggles with which King wrestled during his political career. Yet why would discussion of King’s humanity to cause such an uproar? Why is it so difficult for a human being, even King, to be flawed (conceding that adultery is problematic and smoking kills)? “The Letter from a Birmingham Jail” still rocks my world whether its author is a cheat or not.

I say all of this to suggest that the placement of political figures atop semi-sacred pedestals may be a reflection of a societal ill. It is risky, at best, for any human being to be elevated to such a place. It creates a hierarchy, conscious or not, which carries with it expectations of things usually unattainable and unfulfillable by any mere mortal. It can also produce a lack of appreciation and love for self when such attention and praise is focused on the qualities of another (but we’ll have to save discussion of this one for another day). The most detrimental effect is the iconification of the figure which usually results in the person and the message/movement becoming synonymous rather than the person being viewed as a conduit of information concerning the movement. No leader can fully personify a movement, even if the idealistic message of the movement comes from his mouth. Human beings are far too labyrinthine and nuanced for complete embodiment of an ideology to ever take place. Furthermore, the movement is reduced and minimized when restricted to the body of an individual.

Let me be the first to say that I like Obama. I enjoy listening to him speak and I would guess he is a pretty nice guy. But let me also vocalize the fact that Barack Obama can not cure the ails that currently plague our nation and he surely cannot heal people through bodily contact (specifically referencing my roommates, one of whom has been sick with an unidentifiable virus for weeks and remained ill after the brush with her “fearless leader”). And I know Revelation speaks about the return of the Messiah, but I assure you, Obama ain’t it. So let’s all just take it down a notch (or two, or three…) and re-humanize the man for the perpetuation of this peculiar messiah complex will, according to history, result in nothing but trouble.