Presidential messiah

By Jim Killebrew

[December 19, 2013]  There are people in the national media who carry a lot of influence among the people in the nation. They are seen each day on television and in the print media and thus have been lifted up to a higher level of importance in many people's eyes. What they have to say carries a lot of weight and sometimes changes the thoughts and actions of many people. Those who are famous and serve as cultural idols have many followers who listen to what their idol says and sometimes try to emulate the idol's actions by trying to be just like them.

When the president was elected for his first term, he demonstrated the picture of a young, articulate, well-informed contrast to what the war-weary people of the country had grown tired of in the former president. The young candidate was starting a "new day" with "hope and change" that people were longing to move into. They were swept up in his rhetoric, mesmerized by his words and genuinely believed his promises of beginning a new tomorrow.

The candidate was to appear in Indianapolis, where I was working at the time in an office right downtown, across from a giant space next to the War Memorial on Meridian Street. He was to speak for a few minutes that morning, and preparation was being made for his arrival. I decided to go downstairs and join the vast crowds to listen to him.

They had established a maze of rope-lines to push people through in single file, filling up the standing space with people packed in so tightly they were touching each other standing shoulder to shoulder. Two square city blocks were filled with thousands of people packed in so tightly a person wouldn't even fall down if he or she passed out.

After the "warm-up" with a couple of local politicians and the Democrat Indiana U.S. senator, the candidate senator from Illinois ran from a huge bus parked behind the podium, around a created pathway designed to appear as a winning athlete trotting directly from the winning finishing line to the victory circle to claim his prize.

Amid thunderous applause and many "thank-you" expressions, the senator-candidate raised his hands and finally the crowd quieted. His speech was the same stump speech I had heard before from previously televised rallies. He began to criticize the administration and promised to end the war in Iraq. He then launched into his speech that criticized the wealthy in America by essentially stealing the resources they had accumulated from the "rightful" owners who had done the work for them. He castigated the titans of industry and the Wall Street "fat cats" who had taken all the money from the poor and had reduced the lifestyles of many Americans. He promised to "grow the economy" from the "ground up" and "redistribute" the wealth back to the rightful owners.

His words flowed from the podium and the people responded to the rhetoric with upraised arms. Looking around, I could see hundreds in the crowd jumping up and down, tears in their eyes, with hands raised toward heaven, praising their newfound leader with adoration and joy. Many were repeating his name over and over, and many others spontaneously, with raised hands, began to sway back and forth, praising his name and giving him glory that was meant for their newfound messiah. I had been to other political gatherings in the past that had never treated the political candidate with such reverent homage.

After a full four-year term, re-election and another year into the second term, the actual implementation of his presidency has left him tarnished. The media has uncommonly thrown their support behind him and his efforts. Ironically, he has delivered what he promised during the days leading up to his first election. His efforts have been to grow the government into a much larger entity, capture the economy with his Affordable Care Act, redistribute the wealth of America by expanding entitlement programs. Seemingly, however, this has not been enough to satisfy many of the people who initially backed him; the liberal media included. Piers Morgan and Barbara Walters had this to say during a recent interview televised:

PIERS MORGAN, HOST: "You have interviewed every president of my lifetime. Why is Obama facing so much opposition now? Why is he struggling so much to really fulfill the great flame of ambition and excitement that he was elected on originally in 2009?"

BARBARA WALTERS: "Well, you've touched on it to a degree. He made so many promises. We thought that he was going to be — I shouldn't say this at Christmastime, but — the next messiah. And the whole Obamacare, or whatever you want to call it, the Affordable Health Act, it just hasn't worked for him, and he’s stumbled around on it, and people feel very disappointed because they expected more.

"It's very difficult when the expectations for you are very high. You're almost better off when they are low and then they rise and rise. His were very high and they’ve dropped. But you know, he still has several years to go. What does he have, three years, Piers? And, you know, there will be a lot of changes, one thinks, in that time."

(Written by Noel Sheppard; reported by NewsBusters on Dec. 17, 2013, 21:33)

For the full report you may read more:
http://newsbusters.org/blogs/noel-sheppard/
2013/12/17/barbara-walters-obama-we-thought-
he-was-going-be-next-messiah#ixzz2nqPn4ZrJ

It is interesting that Barbara Walters would admit to the title of messiah. With such disappointment the two of them commiserated the president's downfall due to his signature achievement, the Affordable Care Act. But not to worry, their journalistic instincts kicked in and they quickly recovered from their chagrin at his tumble. They believe he has enough time left in his administration to recover much of his luster; there are three years left in his second term that will give him the chance to rebuild his credibility and win back the full support of the media and the people who initially supported him. So much for their supposedly unbiased, journalist style. I think we all know that any reporting story from them about the president will be peppered with their personal biases, and anything but the truth will flow from their lips.

Beyond the reporting, beyond the people's desires for a "hope and change," the reality seems always in the old saying, "The devil is in the details." Through the implementation of the president's policies and regulations, the gridlock in Washington, the end runs around Congress by executive orders, the continuous lies told about Benghazi, the tax evasion of Cabinet-level people, the continued debt pileup, the misuse of government agencies to spy on Americans, the faltering of foreign policy and the destruction of the standing of America around the world, the appeasement of American's enemies and the loss of trust from allies have all led to a mosaic of incompetence, mismanagement and downright destruction of the American brand throughout the world. This has not resulted in any of the promises people on that day in Indianapolis thought the candidate was promising.

He has accomplished what he said he would do, not what his followers thought he said he would do. That vast difference has lost him the respect of the very people who lifted him to power, even the liberal media. Of course, only for the time being. I believe we are witnessing the fall of the presidential messiah.

[By JIM KILLEBREW]