Obamaphilia

Talk about TRULY CREEPY.

http://vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&videoid=50632298.

First, a bunch of pampered, clueless celebrities making vacuous, preachy pledges, right before the return to their kazillion dollar mansions, limos, etc., borders on the obscene.

But, all things considered, if they actually mean it – with the exception of the obnoxious pledge to advance stem cell research – they are, probably to their everlasting surprise, CONSERVATIVES.

Liberals are notorious skinflints. Conservatives routinely give away a greater percentage of their income that do those "compassionate" liberals. Kristoff wrote about this in The Times a few weeks back; this article in the Journal today expands upon that theme. http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123258358706104403.html. At every level, conservatives personally care more about the downtrodden than do liberals, from giving money to giving blood. Liberals, asked to personally help, tend to respond, "I paid my taxes" (see, e.g., Joe Biden).

Each and every one of these celebs could easily donate 90% of their annual income to charity, and still live better than 90% of the American people. If they each donated a couple of hundred K to their local Catholic schools, perhaps the diocese of Brooklyn would not be forced to close a dozen or so schools catering to the urban poor. I commend that to Demi and Ashton’s attention.

And where, pray tell, were these pledgers over the course of the past eight – or 20 – years? Now, suddenly, they’re proud of their country and resolved to serve? Talk about sunshine patriots.

Well, whatever gets them off the dime and into the trenches, doing the sort of things that conservatives have been advocating – and doing – for years.

But the "pledge" to serve the president...? That bears all the hallmarks of a personality cult. If our new President can get all the folks who seem to worship that poster of his visage, staring out sagely into the distance, to service, great! If celebrities promise to spend the next four years extolling the virtues of this country rather than excoriating it for having the nerve to elect someone they dislike, magnificent! If he motivates them to wipe the ubiquitous scowls from their faces and vitriol from their voices, fantastic.

But, but ... If these sanctimonious folks actually mean (after (ewww) kissing themselves) that they serve HIM, Saint Barack, that’s a problem. It’s supposed to be the other way around. That sort of deification tends to end very poorly. Leftism already looks enough like a religion, with its received dogmas. Now, apparently, it has found the terrestrial incarnation of Him. Which is truly scary.

If these folks truly walk the walk and devote a substantial portion of their substantial fortunes to assisting the downtrodden of society, Obama will have performed a great service, and we can all endure a few smarmy sermons from self-congratulatory and oh-so-noble rich folks.

But that "I pledge allegiance to the president" nonsense ... That’s NEVER been a feature of American politics, and the international precedents are not such as to inspire confidence.