In the spirit of my post, “Not by the Power of Man,” a friend recommended that I search YouTube for “kids sing obama” — be prepared to wonder: should I cry, be terrified, be angry, hunker down in the comfort and rest of God’s good grip, laugh … other?

Interestingly, it took me several minutes of searching in order to find just the clip, because there were so many satirical submissions; video collages mixing the Obama children’s chorus with historical footage of the Hitler Youth, Mao’s “Good Little Children” and even recent footage coming out of Pyongyang, North Korean. While those are fairly easy comparisons for most people to make, the whole thing seems eerily reminiscent of the many children’s productions I have seen at church — especially if you pay close attention to the words.

WE’RE GONNA CHANGE THE WORLD
Music and lyrics by Lily Campbell, age 9

We’re gonna spread happiness
We’re gonna spread freedom
Obama’s gonna change it
Obama’s gonna lead ‘em

We’re gonna change it
And rearrange it
We’re gonna change the world.

SING FOR CHANGE
Music and lyrics by Kathy Sawada

Now’s the moment, lift each voice to sing
Sing with all your heart!
For our children, for our families,
Nations all joined as one.
Sing for joy and sing abundant peace,
Courage, justice, hope!
Sing together, hold each precious hand,
Lifting each other up;
Sing for vision, sing for unity,
Lifting our hearts to Sing!

YES WE CAN
Music and lyrics by Kathy Sawada

Yes we can
Lift each other up
In peace, in love, in hope
Change! Change!

I have been waiting for some time for folks within the Dispensational Premillenialism camp to accuse Barack Obama of being the Anti-Christ. Finally, when we are well into the 2008 presidential campaign cycle, the warning message has filtered its way into the mainstream media. On its heels comes the shocking revelation that Barack Obama may actually be the Messiah. As a casual observer, the latter seems to be the more widely held public opinion (no doubt fueling the eschatological concerns).

It is fascinating. I mean, really, fascinating. It is a window into what the multitudes must have been blogging about when Jesus walked through the countryside. In fact, it was exactly what they were blogging about. They were wild and frenzied with uncontrolled hope for exactly the same reasons … they had no real spiritual awareness, per se; Jesus was going to be the guy who finally got the country in order.

Buchanan’s ‘The American Conservative’ Backs Paul: How on earth, four days before Stupor Tuesday, did I miss the announcement of this key endorsement? I guess us ‘tech savvy’ folks just don’t watch enough television these days.

I just came across the following press release sent by the Ron Paul campaign. It is a good reminder that delegates are ultimately what matters when it comes to winning your party’s nomination, not simply public opinion polls (though I suppose this concept confuses people on about the same level as the Electoral College).

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
February 4, 2008

ARLINGTON, VIRGINIA – While most reports about this past weekend’s Maine Caucus focused on the purely symbolic presidential preference poll, in the meaningful race to secure delegates to the state convention Ron Paul is primed to finish second with likely 35 percent of the total delegates.

Delegates to the Republican National Convention in Minneapolis are elected by the state delegates. Internal results from 10 of 16 counties, including the largest cities of Portland, South Portland, Lewiston, Auburn, Augusta, Waterville, Bangor, and Brewer, show Ron Paul picking up 215 of 608 State Convention delegates so far reported, or 35%.

“Ron Paul’s strong second place finish in Maine, in which he beat John McCain, is proof that this race is far from over,” said Ron Paul campaign manager Lew Moore. “We’ll continue to battle for every delegate in this wide-open race for the Republican nomination.”

In the presidential preference poll, with 70 percent reporting, Ron Paul is in third place just two percentage points behind John McCain. However, the Maine preference poll is purely a beauty contest, and in the actual election of state delegates the so-called “frontrunner” McCain is far behind Ron Paul.

It seems that depending on how Super Tuesday turns out, we could be looking at brokered conventions for the Democrats and Republicans (providing people vote their consciences). And while some folks probably just want all this politics stuff to be over and done with so they can go back to their regularly scheduled programming (especially since an end to the writer’s strike is imminent), I think that a prolonged contest and a bona fide convention (not a coronation) would be good for the country.

Its a competitive world
Everything counts in large amounts
– Depeche Mode

An Endless Series of Hobgoblins: Economist Walter Williams, in writing about the proposed stimulus package, starts off by reminding us that American politics is all about keeping folks occupied with “an endless series of hobgoblins, all of them imaginary” (which makes me think of last night’s SOTUA).