Elected!

So, today is the day on which one of the two candidates will triumph. Almost surely it will be Barack Obama. A clever, quick-witted, well-tempered, bright young man, he has the charisma and confidence unmarred by experience, he leads without hesitations and he has achieved a cult-like status and devotion among his supporters. Whereas the reporters who followed McCain informally call him "Mac", no one has dared to coin a nickname for Obama. He is "He", as in, "He is coming ', or, "He is now going to speak". Obama calls forth admiring crowds, he is charismatic and articulate and he instinctively knows how to shake up and motivate people. We had seen it all before and... it was not pretty.

This worries me. I see the America that used tobe, there no more. The country built on the values of individualism, work, destiny and faith, is rapidly ceasing to exist. Instead, "all feel good" egalitarianism, tolerance without demands, feeling as the language of discourse, and personal magnetism, are taking their place. Paradoxically, as the soil that sustained respect others shifts below our feet, so does the basis for tolerance. Oh, tolerance will survive - as a word, as a name for something that demands conformity and obedience, but not as the deep respect for other viewpoints that allows us to survive and fluorish in this land.

Leaders that arise from nowhere worry me. Ahashveirosh once used to be  a stable boy (Megilla 12b) and Hitler was an unemployed painter. When Hashem brings someone out of nowhere to rule geat empires, I grow concerned about what He has in mind. These are messianic times annd messianic times also bring forth false messiahs.  Even well-intentioned leaders who have never experienced failure cause hubris. Obama had a difficult childhood. Has it tought him compassion? Has it, on thecontrary, taught him to that the way to survive is to distrust and control others, that Love is a fantasy and that public interest is something that the strong use to manipulate the weak?

Times are a-changing - rapidly. Jews-look out and do not forget to pray. "On who shall we rely -only on our Father in Heaven"!

Comments

[Leora]

To add to your list, Stalin had an abused childhood.

Prayer sounds good right now.

[Sympatico]

"Leaders that arise from nowhere worry me."

I'm with you. I also prefer leaders who spring from political dynasties, elite backgrounds, old boys' networks and the like. Just compare dangerous upstarts like Abraham Lincoln (a rail-splitter! As Rudy Giuliani would say, "what is that?!?") to guys with yichus like George W. Bush.