The Cult of Hope & Change

We all know that the Obama campaign seems to be running on the delicious nectar of 'change' and 'hope', especially amongst young voters.

This of course should be no surprise, since kids have always been drawn to change...especially liberal, feel-good change. Lets not forget the quote attributed to Churchill, "If you're not a liberal when you're 20, you have no heart. If you're not a conservative when you're 40, you have no head." The attribution may be apocryphal, but the words ring no less true.

During the first couple of hours of his show on Tuesday, Hugh Hewitt had young Obama supporters call in to try an get them to explain *why* he was such a draw. In the end there was not much substance to most of the answers, but gosh, there was a lot of hope!

Some of the reasons that were cited were that Obama was "inspirational", and "empowering people to believe". Exactly *what* he might be inspiring people to do, or empowering them to believe was not exactly clear. Hugh sugested that maybe this was akin to a "Pep Rally", to which the caller replied that that would imply that there was no substance to the inspiration. No, really??

Additionally, a caller suggested that she thought Obama could make change possible because "with a more positive outlook the country will move in a different direction...". Hugh lauded her for discovering the Norman Vincent Peale School of Public Policy... Heh.

Of course this reminds me of the peacenik lefties who have always maintained that if we just sent out enough positive thoughts and vibes then we could end war in the world.

In the end though, I think that the best way to illustrate this strange cult of hope and what it means to us is to bastardize a popular movie quotation:

Strange men, lying in wait, distributing hope, is no basis for running a government...