Deification of Obama

I'm sure we've all read about the kids who have to say the pledge to a portrait of Obama (Dear Leader Mao, or Hero of the Revolution?), as well as all the adoring fans who gush about how He will Save Us All. The commemorative coins, plates, and prayer rugs (OK, I made that up - but just wait) are also creepy. Before he was sworn in, he was already Our Super Hero. It's pretty weird for sure. This has wigged me out, though:

Tastiest Obama-Lincoln Comparison Ever

By Ashley Southall AND Janie Lorber

Zilly Rosen, a pastry artist in Buffalo, took her treats to Washington this weekend, constructing side-by-side portraits of Barack Obama and Abraham Lincoln using more than 5,600 cupcakes.

But the edible exhibit, on display Saturday at the Smithsonian American Art Museum in honor of Lincoln’s 200th birthday, had a short shelf life.

Just before 5 p.m., after a five-hour display period, the cupcakes started flying off the ground as salivating spectators devoured the mural from the outside in. Within minutes nearly all of Lincoln’s face had disappeared. But an hour later — thanks to either full stomachs or a respect for the sitting president — the majority of Mr. Obama’s face was left intact.

The mural had something for all tastes: Lincoln, on the right, was recreated in vanilla cupcakes with chocolate butter-cream frosting. Mr. Obama’s likeness, on the left, was made out of chocolate cupcakes with vanilla butter-cream frosting. The stripes on the American flag backdrop were red velvet.

Ms. Rosen and a few helpers assembled the mural in a matter of hours Friday afternoon and Saturday morning. It was on public display on Valentine’s Day from noon until 5 p.m., when visitors were invited to help de-install the artwork. The whole affair was broadcast live on the museum’s Web site. The video and a time-lapse feature of the portrait’s journey from construction to crumbs will be available on the museum’s blog, Eye Level, next week.

Ms. Rosen, the proprietor of Zillycakes, a custom cake shop in Buffalo, first fused gastronomy and politics on Election Day, creating a 1,240-cupcake portrait of Mr. Obama, which she served to volunteers at his campaign’s Buffalo headquarters Nov. 5, according to her Web site.

“It started as a crazy love poem in food dedicated to an amazing candidate,” Rosen wrote. She calls her work “equal parts installation, performance, homage, and dessert.”

Several thoughts here. I could go all snarky about Obama being a cupcake, but he is in fact far from it. He and his Congress have managed to spend more money in a few weeks than any previous administration ever. Even taking inflation into account. Our Constitution and by extension, our rights, are being trampled on enough to recall the halcyon days of The Patriot Act with a bit of nostalgia. So, Obama is no cupcake.

And comparisons with Lincoln are far too premature. My G_d, he just took office! We revere Lincoln through the highly filtered lens of history, and since winners write the annals, he looks good now. Obama? He has a lot to live up to.

But, what creeps me out about this issue is - I revere taking communion in my Church. The symbolism means something to me. Putting Obama on the same pedestal as Jesus Christ my Savior, G_d and the Holy Spirit just sickens me. The rush to a G_dless society has also apparently triggered a need for people to believe in something, so apparently that is the Big O? Whew. Just too bizarre.

I say to those who worship our new president - just keep on idolizing false gods and see where that gets us. I'm hardly the most religious person you'll ever meet - sinning seems to be the job of the day, but even I can see this is just wrong, wrong, wrong.