Is Hillary Clinton the Messiah?

James Carville (loyal friend of the Clintons') has likened Governor Bill Richardson's endorsement of Senator Barack Obama to Judas' betrayal of Jesus.

“An act of betrayal,” said James Carville, an adviser to Mrs. Clinton and a friend of Mr. Clinton.

“Mr. Richardson’s endorsement came right around the anniversary of the day when Judas sold out for 30 pieces of silver, so I think the timing is appropriate, if ironic,” Mr. Carville said, referring to Holy Week.

- From The New York Times, First a Tense Talk with Clinton, then Richardson backs Obama

If Governor Richardson is like Judas, then is Senator Hillary Clinton like Jesus?  Should I fall to the ground in worship when I approach her?  Well, the folks in her camp sure do have a Messiah complex about her, as if she were the Promised One to lead the Democrat Party and the country into a supposed Promised Land.  So then, this metaphor is apt, less so for Richardson's endorsement of her rival than for revealing the Clinton Camp's disturbing sense of entitlement.  Hillary Clinton is God, and anyone who gets in their way is Judas.

Furthermore, is this yet another veiled attempt by the Clinton camp to throw doubt on Senator Obama's faith?  Here they are presenting Obama as receiving an endorsement from Judas, the man whose betrayal led to Jesus' murder.  Senator Obama hangs out with Judas!  Put that together with rumors that Obama is Muslim and Senator Clinton's limp noodle response to those rumors - "as far as I know" he's not Muslim - and perhaps we see a pattern of religious warfare in this race.

Perhaps.  It's a stretch, I know, but I'm becoming increasingly sensitive to the subtle role words play in parsing out racial and religious distinctions in this race.  At the least, this is a sloppy and offensive analogy that compares betraying God to betraying Hillary Clinton.  At the worst, this is gutter politics being duked out with religious imagery.  The candidates and their surrogates need to be more careful about their use of racially and religiously-charged language.  This race is becoming increasingly ugly to watch.

Lord (Jesus, not Hillary) have mercy upon us.

Comments

[PS]

Well, the advisor's initials are JC....Maybe he thinks he is infallible.

All this talk is as close to the Biblical story as whatever had to be scooped off the ground behind the donkey that Jesus rode into Jerusalem.

[Pastor Eric]

I have seen these comparisons before and they really bother me. I just don't understand how people think they can get away with comparing people to Jesus like that. I think the Hillary camp is getting desperate.

[John Petty]

Carville was using colorful language to say that Bill Richardson stabbed Hillary Clinton in the back--which he did.

[Pastor Eric]

Stabbed Hillary in the back? Come on...she should know better than that. There are no friends in politics. It is all about getting ahead. "Friendships" are only friendships if they serve the purpose of both parities involved. In this case, it did not serve Bill Richardson, so Hillary needs to understand that and move on.