The Second Coming of Obama

A friend of mine asked me for my opinion on a recent cover page of Newsweek's online article.  It shows a profile photo of President Obama and the wording:  "The Second Coming."  This brought instant furor on Facebook.  My friend asked me what I thought about it.  I decided to go straight to the source.

It took me quite awhile to actually find the article by Newsweek in regards to the cover they posted.  On either the third or fourth page of my Google search did I finally find Newsweek's actual article.  (I thought at first that I would need to have a subscription again.  I hadn't had one since I moved overseas to Germany 12 years ago.)  Every other Google page in reference to Newsweek's article were from conservative Christian magazines and FOXNews, lambasting Newsweek for even comparing Obama to Jesus Christ and his Second Coming.

For your information, here is the actual article in regards to the cover page:  http://www.thedailybeast.com/newsweek/2013/01/20/in-second-inaugural-address-can-president-obama-reassure-a-worried-public.html

As you can see, it had little to do with President Obama being the Messiah, but rather could he deliver a speech that would inspire the nation in his Inaugural Address?  This was the question addressed in the article.  It had mentioned that most Inaugural Speeches failed at this, with the notable exception of John F. Kennedy's speech and that was from 1961.  Hardly recent.  Newsweek suggested that Abraham Lincoln's second Inaugural Address was the one that meant the most because it came from his heart.

Let me address the very obvious:  Did Newsweek use a religious term on purpose with the President's portrait.  Absolutely they did.  This is nothing new.  Newspapers and magazines have use sensational headlines all the time so that they would grab potential readers' gazes and have them purchase their magazine.  In this particular instance, Newsweek succeeded admirably.

However:  I am very disturbed that Christian magazines and websites are harping on this article.  First, if they were so offended by it, they should have left it alone and brought no attention to it so that Newsweek wouldn't have succeeded in their marketing ploy.  Secondly, after a very quick perusal, I could find no reference in these websites to the actual article.  The uproar was about the cover page and not about the article itself.  They judged a book by its cover and not its content.

Finally, I am amused and also disturbed that conservative Christian websites are upset about this.  I have read in so many different websites, articles, and other sources where President Obama is compared to the Antichrist.  They ranged from insinuations to outright declarations of the title.  There is no evidence for this whatsoever.  I believe that it is hypocritical for conservative Christians to flaunt their proclamations of the President being the Antichrist and yet cry "Foul!" when another news sources simply insinuates the opposite as a marketing ploy.  I also think it is ridiculous that Protestant Christians didn't vote for him:  the only Protestant Christian on the ticket.  Some Christians said that they were looking beyond Mitt Romney's religion.  I say that they were settling for Mitt Romney because he became the Republican Party candidate. Then they had to do some inner soul searching as to whether or not one could be a Christian and vote for a Mormon. And as absurd as it sounds, many Evangelical Christians equate Christianity with Republicanism.  To vote for anyone else except a Republican is considered to be heretical.

In other words, Newsweek won.  Conservative Christians missed the point and actually helped Newsweek's cause.