Our New Age President 3 comments

12 Feb 2007 @ 18:43, by Unknown He is a “heart” person, as pollster John Zogby’s Wizard of Oz characterization would have it (where Kerry was perceived as the Tin Man, all brains and no heart, Bush is the Scarecrow, nothing but heart and straw). When he speaks of "wonderworking power" (a reference to the gospel standard "Power in the Blood"), as he did in his now infamous "mission accomplished" speech, he is drawing that power into being, to make his desires into reality. Politics, strategy, books, the Bible -- everything falls away in the realm of magical realism... That beautiful...sentiment is a rebuke to all systems, to all theories, to the disenchantment of the world; indeed, it exists on a sort of astral plane, where Christ floats freely, unbound by scripture... Some will note the Gnostic resonance of such a belief system, but in the modern world it owes more to the resilience of magical thinking than to Gnosticism... Such beliefs emphasize that certainty is easy, if you'll just give up the illusion of reality, since certainty is as close to you as your own heart. One need not investigate with the tools of rationalism, but rather, simply---the simplicity of it all is key ---feel. And, well, apparently it works: If you believe you can do something---become president despite losing the popular vote, launch a war without evidence, and maybe, if you REALLY believe, get re-elected anyway---you can. The above is an abstract from Our Magical President by Jeff Sharlet] Jeff Sharlet is co-author of Killing the Buddha and editor of The Revealer. The Revealer is a daily review of religion in the news and the news about religion. They are not so much nonpartisan as polypartisan -- interested in all sides, disdainful of dualistic arguments, and enamored of free speech as a first principle.

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