He's the One!

Pastor Dan thinks McCain's new ad is a dog-whistle to right-wing Christians that Obama may be the Antichrist. If so, it's probably redundant. Since the magical invention of email forwards, every Democratic presidential candidate has probably been accused of being worse things. Thing just looks incoherent to me; Obama as Moses? Really?

McCain's bizarre turn to attacking Obama's enormous global popularity has many pundits flummoxed, but, while it is desperate, there is a shred of real strategy at work. Remember that conservative Christians, and right-wingers in general, have a well-nurtured persecution complex. They love to imagine themselves inside the walls of Constantinople, forever under siege by the "liberal elites" and the masses temporarily brainwashed by liberal dogma. McCain's recent ads are naturally inscrutable to the non-wingnut population; they are meant to rally the skeptical right-wing base--as well as the media--around the narrative of McCain as a set-upon underdog.

Of course, if Obama is the Antichrist it raises the interesting question of whether the Rapture believers ought to vote against him, since prophecy being foiled by human wiles would seem to be a difficult issue to resolve. Can the Will of God not win an election anymore? I suppose it worked for Bush, but I think the Almighty needed a little human intervention to pull those out.