Flickering Greatness

Paradise Lost: Illustration by Gustave Doré

Columnist Maureen Dowd today in an Op-Ed in The New York Times appropriately titled “Flickering Greatness” chronicles the self-consumed persona of our President against the backdrop of the Friday derailment of his "legacy" and "reputation." “Obama must wonder if the moment of his greatness is flickering.”

“The Obama White House has managed Congress poorly, with arrogance — or worse, neglect.”

“Obama has always resented the idea that it mattered for him to charm and knead and whip and hug and horse-trade his way to legislative victories, to lubricate the levers of government with personal loyalty.”

Dowd insists it is all about him. “Obama casts himself as the man alone in the arena, refusing to let Democrats stand on stage with him at key moments or even give them a lift in his limo.”

Obama’s self-consumed persona is a common syndrome transcending kings and time. Consider the proverb of the King of Babylon who morphs into something insidious:

“Take up this proverb against the king of Babylon... He who smote the people in wrath with a continual stroke, he that ruled the nations in anger.... How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! How art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations! For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north: I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High. Yet thou shalt be brought down.... They that see thee shall narrowly look upon thee, and consider thee, saying, Is this the man that made the earth to tremble, that did shake kingdoms” (cf. Isaiah 14:4-16).

How can I be saved?