Why the SOTU Address Made Me Think of the Creation
Jan 28th, 2010 | 6 responses
I was watching the State of the Union address last night and, as I saw half our legislators sit on their hands while their president tried to rally the nation, it dawned on me what a difficult task this man, this Mr. Obama—this mere mortal—has ahead of him.
And for some reason I thought of the Creation.
Now, don’t get me wrong. Trying to fix the mess our country finds itself in doesn’t even begin to hold a candle to the magnificent Creation.
And, don’t get me wrong, I am not—by any stretch of the imagination—attempting to compare Mr. Obama to God. God is God. Mr. Obama is merely a mortal, an imperfect one at that, regardless of the “Messiah” references by some of his critics.
But there are, in my opinion and with all due respect to Him, some comparisons that can be made, certainly some differences to be pointed out, and some questions that can be asked.
For example, it took God only six days to create heaven and earth. Our president has had more than a year to, in the overall scheme of things, fix the relatively minor problems he has on his hands.
Should we give him more time? Does he deserve more time?
Again, without implying any equivalence, God started out with a clean slate and He created a beautiful, peaceful, harmonious world. Obama, started out with the most incredible mess and he’s just trying to clean it up, a little bit at a time.
While God created heaven and earth, for Obama—a mere mortal—attempting to fix the mess is like moving heaven and earth.
While God worked without any real opposition, Obama has to fight day in, day out—among others—40 (now 41) mortals who dispute his every word, who oppose his every attempt to fix the mess.
While God had an unlimited budget, Obama has one that is hopelessly in the red.
While God created goodwill, Obama has a difficult time finding it among the mortals who oppose and obstruct him.
While God merely had to command the creation of heaven and earth, Obama has to beg, borrow and contend with filibusters to get anything done.
While God divided light from darkness, Obama finds a nation divided and a world still much in the darkness of poverty, disease, oppression and, now, terrorism.
While God initially had to contend with only two relatively well-behaved mortals, Obama has to contend with 300 million of the most demanding human beings on earth—not always well-behaved.
While God on the seventh day, deservingly so, rested from his work, the President of the United States, a mere mortal, can’t afford such a luxury.
God in his omnipotence didn’t need any help to create our world. Obama, a mere human being, needs all the help he can get to fix our nation’s problems. Should we give him some more time? I believe we should. Should we cut him some slack? I believe we must.
No, there is absolutely no comparison between God’s Work and Obama’s labors. That’s why Obama needs help from Democrats and Republicans alike. For, while God is always right, Obama has made and will make mistakes. For, while God finished His Work in six days, the work of the president of the United States is really never finished. For, while when God smiles the earth lights up and the birds sing, when Obama smiles, all he gets is a caricature.
6 Responses to “Why the SOTU Address Made Me Think of the Creation”
Oh. my. goodness.
I cannot believe that these republicans are so ideologically opposed to helping Americans get back to work or that they WILL NOT take responsibility for the massive debt that they created.
For republicans it is all big business and the rich. Nobody else counts.
Is this a parody of how you think the Right thinks? It is borderline offensive.
I never saw anyone on the Right ever write something like this about GWB, and if they had, they would have been excoriated by the Left. Rightfully.
My recollection of Genesis may be a bit spotty but I don't recall God resting every other day and admiring himself in the mirror. Nor did he spend most of his time blaming others for every failed volcano and mountain range. God didn't claim he would stand before the television cameras on CSpan and let us watch him create birds, then sneak off into some smoke filled cave on the firmament and cut deals to have it done. And when the people were mislead by the Serpent, he didn't say, “Don't blame me. That snake was left by the prior occupant”.
What a shame that the President's entrance into the chamber, high points of his speech, and exit after the conclusion weren't embellished by the choir singing appropriate hymns.
Is this better, Dorian?
“Government work is God's work”
or
“The major premise of our theory of representation has been: the people must rule. But the people cannot rule and the President has become their substitute. Accordingly, he personifies their political authority. When he speaks from atop his pyramid of 67 million votes, with the bulk of the populace reportedly behind him, he is awe inspiring. His infallibility especially impresses those closest to him whose approval, if not their adulation, convinces him that he is larger than life. … the personification of the will of the people which has been called 'the voice of God.'”
If you want to come down to earth, there's always this, instead, from the evil Wall Street Journal:
“Mr. Obama's major contribution to deficits has been a record spending spree. In 2007, before the recession, federal expenditures reached $2.73 trillion. By 2009 expenditures had climbed to $3.52 trillion. In 2009 alone, overall federal spending rose 18%, or $536 billion. Throw in a $65 billion reduction in debt service costs due to low interest rates, and the overall spending increase was 22%.
In one year.
CBO confirms that Democrats have taken federal spending to a new and higher plateau: 24.7% of GDP in 2009, 24.1% this year, and back to an estimated 24.3% in 2011. The modern historical average is about 20.5%, and less than that if you exclude the Reagan defense buildup of the 1980s that helped to win the Cold War and let Bill Clinton reduce defense spending to 3% of GDP in the 1990s.”
lol