I’ve written several times before about the relationship between Obama’s speeches, as written and as delivered, and Christian sermons, especially those of the black church. In his victory speech at the Xcel Center last night, this bit struck me as a poignant example of this.
I am absolutely certain that generations from now, we will be able to look back and tell our children that this was the moment when we began to provide care for the sick and good jobs to the jobless; this was the moment when the rise of the oceans began to slow and our planet began to heal.
It parallels a passage in the New Testament book of Revelations (7:14-16).
These are the ones who come out of the great tribulation, and they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. For this reason, they are before the throne of God; and they serve Him day and night in His temple; and He who sits on the throne shall spread His tabernacle over them. They shall hunger no more, neither thirst anymore; neither shall the sun beat down on them, nor any heat; for the Lamb in the center of the throne shall be their shepherd, and shall guide them to springs of the water of life; and God shall wipe every tear from their eyes.
Having heard the man give a number of speeches in person, it is hard to relate the false and yet popular idea that he is a Muslim, closet or otherwise, with his deeply ingrained sense of biblical rhetoric. His oratory and rhetoric are reflective of his decades in the pew, and they are unmistakable. Nevertheless, about 15% of Americans believe that he is a Muslim.
UPDATE: Marc Ambinder notices the same thing, albeit in a superluminal light.
