This took place earlier in the week, but I wanted to get it posted anyways, because it's just more of the strange and dangerous path, a large percentage of the American population has embarked upon.
Newsweek Editor Evan Thomas, talking to MSNBC's Chris Matthews, said that Obama is "above the country ... above the world, he's sort of God."
H/T Chris Moody!
An "intense devotion to a particular person" is defined by Princeton University as a Cult of Personality. And according to the Library of Congress, a Cult of Peronality is:
A term coined by Nikita Khrushchev at the Twentieth Congress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union in 1956 to describe the rule of Joseph Stalin, during which the Soviet people were compelled to deify the dictator. Other communist leaders, particularly Albania's Enver Hoxha, followed Stalin's example and established a cult of personality around themselves.
Even way back in February 2008, Uber-Progressive and Democratic-hack Paul Krugman, warned about the growing Obama Cult of Personality (emphasis added):
The bitterness of the fight for the Democratic nomination is, on the face of it, bizarre. Both candidates still standing are smart and appealing ... Both have broad support among the party's grass roots and are favorably viewed by Democratic voters.
Supporters of each candidate should have no trouble rallying behind the other if he or she gets the nod.
Why, then, is there so much venom out there?
I won't try for fake evenhandedness here: most of the venom I see is coming from supporters of Mr. Obama, who want their hero or nobody. I'm not the first to point out that the Obama campaign seems dangerously close to becoming a cult of personality.
From Wikipedia:
A cult of personality arises when a country's leader uses mass media to create a heroic public image through unquestioning flattery and praise. Cults of personality are often found in dictatorships.
A cult of personality is similar to general hero worship, except that it is created specifically for political leaders. However, the term may be applied by analogy to refer to adulation of religious or non-political leaders.
Living Color's Cult of Personality:
Look into my eyes, what do you see?
Cult of personality
I know your anger, I know your dreams
Ive been everything you want to be
Im the cult of personality
Like mussolini and kennedy
Im the cult of personality
Cult of personality
Cult of personality
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