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Sermon on the Mount Two Millennia Later
By Ben Tanosborn
ccun.org, September 3, 2008
It was a much better setting for Barack Obama in mile high Denver
than Jesus of Nazareth had in Galilee almost two millennia ago.
Mountains versus hills, and a crowd probably 500-fold! But
just as Christ is said by many to have given the central tenets of
Christian discipleship on that momentous occasion, Obama gave an
acceptance speech that defined not just the tenets of the Democratic
Party and his vision of America; but many of us came away with the
unchanging reality of the sad state of politics in America.
Barack Obama’s acceptance speech on August 28 as presidential
candidate of his party has been described from inspirational to
transformational plus in several other laudatory terms; certainly by
those in his party and so-called independents as well. The
speech had carefully crafted content, almost as comprehensive as
that which Christ delivered at the Mount, and one would be on the
mark saying the speech was eloquently delivered, with as much or
more finesse than that usually exhibited by televangelist preachers
throughout this God-blessed America, and probably with far more
believable zeal.
This speech, timely delivered on the anniversary of Martin Luther
King’s memorable “I have a dream” speech of 45 years ago, capped
perfectly a four-day convention in which unity and change were the
two themes. Party unity is widely believed to have been achieved
after Hillary and Bill gave convincing, even humbling, speeches to
assure America, Democrat America in particular, of their unqualified
endorsement of Senator Obama. It could be argued that it
really had a lot to do with the Clinton legacy which had been
dangerously put at risk during the course of the last six months;
or, perhaps this concession to the party was but a prepayment on
future political knighting for daughter Chelsea; or, even a way to
be able to have Hillary’s personal loan of over $10 million to her
campaign retrieved somehow, all or even part. But unity was
achieved.
Change as a theme proved to be not as coherent an issue, and much of
the change espoused by Obama and his party, was (is) really Pyrrhic,
perhaps no more than a few incrementally positive degrees from the
type of government and society in which we live today. And
that means same wars; same foreign policies; vassalage to Corporate
America; and a totally irresponsible blindness to what is happening
to America’s economy. On the latter, returning to the pre-Bush
tax structure, as proposed, will not suffice, the gap between rich
and poor has widened to an obscene extreme during the past quarter
of a century… since Reagan’s presidency – and his voodoo economics –
not to exclude the Clinton years when all those millions of jobs
created, and for which his administration takes credit, were for the
most part low-skill, minimum wage jobs.
Salve Barack Caesar! The Democratic Party has convened and
found you to be worthy representative of the party to become CINC of
the United States, and leader of the “free world;” for come next
November it is another Commander-In-Chief that will be elected.
And here we are, thinking that we’ll be casting our ballots for a
president… not a Chief of Police empowered to protect the wealth and
power of an elite; a person that will be expected to allow such
elite to plunder and enslave at will, as in the recent past.
That is in truth the power that Americans have at the ballot box:
the selection of a CINC.
Granted that we have known all along that politics in this US is the
closest thing to a cruel joke, with Tweedledee and Tweedledum (our
duopoly of Demos and Republicans) mockingly tell us that people do
rule, and that we are a democratic nation. Now, as if that
ongoing cruelty weren’t enough, there are some Democratic
politicians espousing an even greater bipartisanship. For the
sake of national purpose, they claim. Are they favoring that we be
governed by TweedleOne? Or is that too weirdly homo-incestuous
since Dee and Dum are brothers? Well… maybe they turn
out to be enantiomorphs!
Other than party unity the convention brought Democrats another
success story: making history by selecting the first
African-American candidate in American politics selected by a major
political party. And that brings to light a major source of
problems in American politics: this is a nation where its citizens
have one critical priority; one concern; one issue… letting the rest
take care of itself. Women, blacks, religious zealots, and
other identifiable groups have for the most part one item agendas;
and the rest becomes secondary or even irrelevant. War and
social justice have had diminished interest; war being waged
“elsewhere” and social justice not very fashionable in a consumer
society.
Thusly, these primordial issues were not addressed at the
convention, properly or at all:
Bringing to trial for international crimes and genocide, Bush,
Cheney and all the other responsible officials in the administration
(Kucinich’s effort just a gesture).
Open discussion on the true state of the economy and how, why it
came to be.
A “no holds barred” discussion of American Foreign Policy going back
as long as it need be to ascertain the reasons for our imperialistic
policies with, (a) Latin American countries; (b) our rigid and
incestuous relationship with Israel; (c) our coveting efforts for
Middle East oil; (d) our asphyxiating treatment of Russia and
unnecessary challenges to its legitimate zone of influence and
interest; and, (e) our attitude, economically and militarily,
towards other upcoming global powers.
Should we be surprised that the real issues, the real major problems
facing the nation were never honestly addressed? Something,
rest assured, that will also be the case with the Republican Party
Convention scheduled for next week.
The Sermon on the Mount at Galilee addressed important issues for
Christianity with the Beatitudes and the reinterpretation of Mosaic
Law. The Sermon on the Mount in Denver’s stadium gave us great
oratory with the usual political Platitudes and the same old
interpretation of American Exceptionalism. Obama is
unquestionably no Jesus!
If it is change you expect with an Obama presidency, it will come
from an eyedropper. Whether Americans accept it or not as an
irremediable truth, their politics are being ran by Corporate
America and the Pentagon. The show staged in Denver was
sponsored by them… and so will the one next week (GOP) in
Minneapolis-St. Paul.
It’s unfortunate that a charismatic leader with a very likely sense
of humanity and social justice needs to find accommodation in his
soul – read, sell his soul to the devil – if he is to achieve top
recognition in American politics. It only took Obama two years
to do so. But that’s how it is with American politics.
Love it or love it… that’s our choice!
Ben Tanosborn
www.tanosborn.com
ben@tanosborn.com
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