Who's your Messiah?

Well, I am generally fascinated by the charachterization of Obama as the Anti-Christ, the scare message du jour for evangelicals from their gracious hosts and suitor, the Republican Party. It's a brilliant bit of dog-whistle politics, since the majority of the polity simply doesn't know why it would be a bad thing to be a celebrity, or hailed as a transformational Christian leader - things that scream "Anti-Christ" to a select group. What impresses me is that they manage to play both sides. From RCP, Tony Blankley makes the claim that he's actaully a religious zealot, and that really we should be scared of him because he thinks he's god's messenger:

Consider that these words came from a man who has urged his followers to "get in the face" of his opponents and has exalted recently -- in an uncharacteristic moment of lack of restraint -- that he has "a righteous wind" at his back. That is a revealing word, righteous. It suggests that a person's actions have been "judged" or "reckoned" as leading a life that is pleasing to God. A verse in the Bible's book of Psalms speaks of one being shielded by God and receiving favor because of righteousness.

This is a particlarly impressive claim given that it comes from the party of George Bush and Sarah Palin. Maybe, just maybe, they think the best way to fight the claim that Religious zealots are a bit scary is to say that the claim runs both ways. I can't claim that I understand how this will play out in the minds of religious christians, but it is interesting that the message is being put out there by the right.