Carter, Obama, Messiah?

In the 1976 presidential campaign, Jimmy Carter appeared on the national scene as a fresh face, relatively new to politics. The American voters perceived in him an opportunity to break away from a heritage of war and corruption fostered by previous presidents. Lyndon Johnson, although fairly progressive in his domestic social programs, grew very unpopular as he persisted in his commitment of U.S. troops to the conflict in Vietnam. Nixon and his fellows brought upon America the taint of the Watergate scandal. Ford made the unpopular move of pardoning former president Nixon of his crimes before the trial process had really even begun. In the wake of these events, Carter's campaign gave U.S. voters a fresh hope that the country could shift toward a more positive direction. According to historian Randall Balmer, American voters in 1976 "were searching for a kind of savior, someone to lead them out of the wilderness of shame and corruption to the promised land of redemption and rehabilitation" (Balmer, "God in the White House", HarperOne 2008, p. 79). Jimmy Carter, a wet-behind-the-ears politician from a Southern evangelical Christian background, inspired people who didn't often engage in politics to cast a vote for his hopeful presidency.

I don't think it's too much of a stretch to draw some parallels between Carter and our current presidential candidate Barack Obama. Although as individuals they may be quite different, there seems to be some similarities in how they are/were perceived by U.S. voters. Like Carter, Obama is seen as a fresh, relatively new--or "inexperienced" say his critics--politician. Obama's candidacy follows on the heels of an immensely unpopular, corrupt, and scandalous presidential regime. Obama's campaign highlights the shortcomings of President Bush and promises a positive alternative to the disastrous administration of the past eight years. He has become something of a messiah figure in the eyes of voters.

Ironically, it is his critics who have plastered the label of "messiah" onto Obama, raucously shouting that this "loser" sees himself as a messiah and wants American voters to believe that he can save us all from our problems. Right-wing radio personality Michael Savage rants about "The Messiah" daily on his radio talk show. His audience includes a large number of conservative voters, many of whom expect another messiah to come and redeem the world someday. Despite this criticism, many of Obama's supporters are thrilled to have a candidate with his particular vision for the future of the U.S. and see him as untainted by corruption. He is a bit of a messiah, or perhaps a prophetic voice, even for voters who claim no religious affiliations.

Unfortunately for Jimmy Carter (and for the Democratic Party), many of Carter's supporters turned against him during his presidency, organizing themselves into a powerful political network known as the Religious Right, or the Christian Right. This voting bloc defeated Carter's second run for presidency and continues to stand as an obstacle to many a Democratic candidate at multiple levels of government. My hope is that Obama won't be defeated by the Christian Right, and that his strong supporters won't also turn against him. If elected, he has a huge task list of problems to fix before we can begin to see his vision for the U.S. actualized. I hope we will give him eight years to work for the changes he proclaims.