Barack Obama, The One


Four years ago, Hollywood was exuberant.     Halle Berry said she would “collect paper cups off the ground to make his pathway clear," therein recalling Barnabas' cousin who two thousand years earlier quoted Isaiah predicting "the voice of one crying in the wilderness: ‘Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight.’”

Oprah Winfrey, as usual, could not be restrained and announced "He is 'The One'," recalling the assurance given by a man skilled in seamless shoe analogies, who told the skeptics "I baptize in water but among you stands One whom you do not know."

Other Hollywood stars were at least somewhat less effusive (and biblically literate) than Berry and Winfrey, the latter of whom was curiously quiet after the Democratic convention. But as with those of us who preferred Edwards or Clinton, we all should have known better. New York Magazine reported on December 22 of an incident 9-10 years ago:    

On June 11, 2002, as a state senator, Obama and fellow state senator Rickey Hendon nearly threw down on the Senate floor. At issue was a bill that would close a child-welfare office in Hendon’s district. Obama voted in favor of the bill — accidentally, he claims — but Hendon was irate. “There’s a rift between the African-Americans on the West Side and South Side here in Chicago,” says David Mendell, Tribune reporter and author of an Obama biography.“They’re competitive, and [Hendon] was saying that Obama voted against his project because he wanted to placate some fiscal conservatives, and it was a West Side–South Side thing.” Obama at one point put his hand on Hendon’s shoulder as a friendly gesture, but Hendon slapped it away. It didn’t take long before both men were engaged in a heated shouting match on the floor of the Senate. When they took their argument to a different room, Obama allegedly had to be restrained. “According to people I interviewed who were there, they said Obama was ready to throw some punches,” says Mendell.

Yes, a "friendly gesture."     And Mitt Romney merely wanted to soothe a nervous Rick Perry:




Admittedly, as this Wikipedia entry suggests, Hendon may be a guy whom it's easy to be tempted to slug.      But as Isaiah prophesied the coming of the Lord, the vote may have portended the presidency of Barack Obama, at least as notable for disregarding his liberal allies as for the lack of  courage reflected in his "present" votes as state senator             Still, how comforting it is to know that this November we'll probably have a choice between a patronizing right-winger and a patronizing centrist.






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