I suppose it was inevitable that a newspaper editorial board would place President Obama above Jesus Christ in stature. Read After all, as my friend Cal Grondahl says, there’s been no comment from the Man from Galilee refuting the Obama-beats-Christ piece, so maybe a new standard has been set. And as the Danish newspaper Politiken points out, “his (Obama’s) historic Health Reform is being passed through the American Senate,” while Christ’s miracles “only benefitted a few.”
If we really want to get into the Obama-Christ comparison, one could argue, as Sinclair Lewis did, that Christ advocated a personal economic system that would lead to ruin within months. One the other hand, Obama’s plans for a national economic system likely won’t lead to ruin for at least several years, maybe even a decade or two.
I’m still not sure that this Politiken piece is not a hoax. If it’s satire or parody, it will never make The Onion. But courageous it’s not. I agree with National Review Online’s Jim Geraghty, who said, “Come on, you wimp, call him greater than Mohammed.“
Di Lewis
on Dec 29th, 2009
@ 2:28 pm:
Don’t you remember that it was a Danish newspaper (not this one) who printed the Mohammed cartoons? It’s not like the country is particularly worried about offending people.
Di Lewis
on Dec 29th, 2009
@ 2:39 pm:
An amusing anecdote: the mother of the friend I stayed with for Christmas while I was there was actually proud of the newspaper for publishing the cartoons and very unapologetic about the whole thing.
Jim
on Dec 29th, 2009
@ 2:51 pm:
“Christ’s miracles ‘only benefited a few’”…
Unless you count that whole universal resurrection, infinite atonement thing.
But it’s hard to quantify that with public sector union jobs, so I understand why Teleprompter Buddha comes out on top with some people.
Michael Trujillo
on Dec 29th, 2009
@ 3:09 pm:
It’s a bit premature. We’ll have to wait for about 2000 years to see if he’s elevated above Jesus by the world’s citizens.
But if he is revered more than Jesus by our descendents, it appears that they’ll be celebrating his Birthday on the wrong date, just as we celebrate Jesus’, because we have no copy of his “long form birth certificate”. I foresee future historians combing 20th century documents searching for Barack’s “real” birth date. “Look,” one will point out, “He was born in the summer, not in the winter as we currently celebrate. There are no extent references to the Breakers at North Beach. Clearly, if he’d been born in winter, the three wise surfers who followed the trade winds to visit him would have had noodle arms from being raked over by the gnarly waves.
(Please note that the above was typed with my tongue firmly in my cheek.)
Al
on Dec 29th, 2009
@ 5:26 pm:
Uh-oh. Nobody tell Doug (or National Review Online’s Jim Geraghty) about John Lennon’s “we’re bigger than Jesus” quip. Poor guy’s head will just blow.
Doug Gibson
on Dec 29th, 2009
@ 5:37 pm:
Al, are you insinuating my knowledge of popular culture trails yours? You might be surprised, friend!
Burt
on Dec 29th, 2009
@ 5:42 pm:
Who is “B-Plus Barry’s” Yoko?
Al
on Dec 29th, 2009
@ 5:47 pm:
I’m not implying anything about your knowledge of popular culture, Doug. I’ve seen the movie blog.
I am saying that for a member of the self-appointed “serious” political class to go all vapory over a Danish op-ed that may or may not be satire (does it matter, really, what the Danes say about Obama? Should he, in your and Geraghty’s opinion, disclaim every weird thing said about him in order to remain eligible to govern? Are we to believe this is really the tipping point that stains the credibility of the European press in your eyes?) does rather little to shore up credibility.
Michael Trujillo
on Dec 29th, 2009
@ 6:40 pm:
To piggy back on Al’s comment:
Doug and Jim’s reactions to the “only benefited a few” comment is interesting. They highlight it like it’s the most preposterous thing they’ve ever heard someone say. They need to realize that, though they are firm believers in the atonement, there are many people world wide who don’t share their belief. This is not to say that one point of view is right and other is wrong. It merely means that when someone says something like that, they’re not necessarily talking “crazy”, but merely viewing things from their perspective. I’m positive John Lennon wasn’t deluded when he made his comment in the 60’s. He simply spoke as someone who doesn’t share some people’s belief system. Same with the Danish writer, I assume. So, don’t automatically discount what he says ONLY because he wrote ‘only benefited a few’.
Still, it’s a funny piece of writing.
Doug Gibson
on Dec 29th, 2009
@ 7:03 pm:
I find the editorial to be more mirth than serious, although I acknowledge Michael’s point. I think Geraghty’s quote was quite witty and insightful.
Neal Humphrey
on Dec 29th, 2009
@ 9:41 pm:
As my Danish great-grandmother made me repeat: “Rød grød med fløde!”
Di
on Dec 30th, 2009
@ 12:30 am:
Neal: lol
I think that’s the first thing everyone learns.
Al
on Dec 30th, 2009
@ 9:02 am:
What’s witty and insightful about one more knee-jerk smear over how PC, liberal, anti-Christian [take your pick] the media is? Seriously: A conservative writer takes exaggerated offense at an odd piece of writing by noting how offended somebody else would be, if only the odd piece of writing had been about [again, take your pick] women, Jews, Muslims, gays or Democrats? Hasn’t that been the M.O. of National Review for a good decade now? It’s practically a mad-lib, just fill in the blanks.
Willbike
on Dec 30th, 2009
@ 11:29 am:
Hasn’t that been the M.O. of Fox News for a good decade now?
Charles Trentelman
on Dec 31st, 2009
@ 12:28 am:
nobody pays attention to editorial boards, doug, you know that, or ought to.
Jeffrey M
on Dec 31st, 2009
@ 11:32 pm:
Didn’t ZZ Top have a song titled \Jesus just left Chicago………
Hyrum
on Jan 4th, 2010
@ 11:29 am:
After 8 long long years under the old Bush regime… ANYTHING would seem next to Godly.
John Avanzini
on Aug 16th, 2010
@ 9:58 pm:
How can they compare Mr. Obama with Jesus, they are different in many ways.
Rodney Howard Browne
on Aug 19th, 2010
@ 8:11 pm:
I don’t think he is greater that Jesus, after all we are His creation.