Save Us From Obama the Savior

Peter Wehner has a must-read column on Barack Obama at National Review. Among his many interesting points, Wehner notes the continuing arrogance in Obama's various attempts to put the issue behind him. (Jim Geraghty also points out Obama's ultimate refusal to take responsibility for his words, instead blaming others by saying "the way that these remarks have been interpreted have offended some people.")

Wehner's most important point is worth quoting at length: "On a deeper level, what we saw in Obama’s comments is a glimpse into a particular worldview, one that animates his political philosophy (contemporary liberalism). Senator Obama seems to view ordinary Americans as bitter, often broken, small-minded objects of pity rather than anger, ostensibly in need of instruction from — you guessed it — Barack Obama. The words of Michelle Obama are worth recalling in this context. She has spoken about her husband pushing us out of our 'comfort zones,' saying 'Barack knows at some level there is a hole in our souls' and 'Barack is the only person in this race who understands that before we can work on the problems as a nation, we have to fix our souls. Our souls are broken in this nation.'

"This is the Politics of Meaning on steroids. If one views Americans as fundamentally needy children rather than competent citizens, one embraces the precepts of the nanny state — the state that (in Margaret Thatcher’s memorable phrase) takes too much from you in order to do too much for you."

I noted Mrs. Obama's curious statement on her husband wanting to "fix our souls" last February, but it takes on an entirely new significance in light of Senator Obama's derogatory statement about Americans "clinging" to religion. The Obamas obviously see the senator as some sort of governmental savior who will replace the need for religious belief. And that is pretty scary stuff. Rich Lowry calls it "secular messianism."

David Kahane has more quotes from Mrs. Obama: "Barack Obama will require you to work. He is going to demand that you shed your cynicism. That you put down your divisions. That you come out of your isolation, that you move out of your comfort zones. That you push yourselves to be better. And that you engage. Barack will never allow you to go back to your lives as usual, uninvolved, uninformed."

Is she describing some sort of new religious cult American citizens won't be allowed to leave, or the American Presidency?

Previously: Barack Blows It; Obama: The Fallout.