Oh-For-Three

Here is yet another example of the right embodying that which they profess to fear.

I'm just a lapsed Catholic and not a theologian, but even I can see the internal tension here: These children are literally worshipping Bush, which -- if they weren't exploited innocents -- would violate at least three commandments.

First Commandment: "I am the Lord your God. You shall have no other gods before me. You shall not make for yourself an idol."

Second Commandment: "You shall not make wrongful use of the name of your God."

Third Commandment: "Remember the Sabbath and keep it holy."

I don't know how else to interpret this scene other than worship of a false idol, times two: Bush himself and Bush as represented by a cardboard cutout. I admit that aesthetically the cutout is a long way from a golden calf, but the principle is the same. It's also worth noting that one of the founding principles of Protestantism aimed at eliminating the presence of statues from church for precisely the reason that their presence was a violation of the First Commandment.

Once you've started down the slippery slope of worshipping a false idol, it isn't long before you're breaking the next two commandments as well. After all, ascribing divinity to a mortal is heretical and certainly "wrongful use" of God's name. And if you do it on the Sabbath...hey, you're oh-for-three, commandment-wise.

Compare this to the right-wing outrage over President Obama's address to school children. There's a great deal of self loathing there, as it in part reflects disgust at the right's own behavior toward President Bush. This isn't limited to the religious right, either: Just think of the secular fawning over Bush when he emerged from the cockpit in front of the "Mission Accomplished" banner.

Similarly, the right-wing conviction that the president is a racist mirrors its attitude toward minorities. Call them out on it, though, as Jimmy Carter did, and you're accused of divisiveness and of playing the race card, never mind that the right plays the race card every day.

To me, though, the weirdest right-wing shibboleth about President Obama is that one of the most mild-mannered men to occupy the Oval Office is fundamentally angry. This article of faith is inevitably expressed with a great deal of anger and again reveals nothing so much as anger on the part of the accuser, not the president. Which leads to this rule of thumb: The right is whatever it accuses the left of being -- angry, racist, divisive. The next thing you know, they'll accuse the left of homophobia! (Thanks to Annette at Just my little piece of the world for calling this video to my attention.)...

The first rain of fall fell yesterday. It will be the first of many. Luckily, today is a beautiful day -- a great day to blog with the sliding glass door open and Dianne Reeves on the stereo. Here's "There'll Be Another Spring" from the soundtrack to Good Night, and Good Luck:

I love you more than you'll ever know...

What a lily...

More fall flowers...