Branding Obamessiah
"Mark Edward Taylor gets to the heart of Obama's appeal." -- Cal Thomas In 2004 a cadre of Democratic advisers and communications experts hatched a plan to elect a largely unknown, biracial American to the highest office in the land in only four years. Knowing that its chosen one would have to rise above Hillary Clinton and then the Republican candidate, "Team Obama" created a new style of American political leader defined by "Sacred Six" characteristics: a creation story, sacred words, sacred images, sacred rituals, true believers, and a messianic leader. The Sacred Six became Barack Obama's "Devotional Code," eliciting enthused voter chants of Hope, Change, and Belief ("Yes we can!") and consummating a special relationship between faithful voters and the saintly candidate whom Oprah Winfrey baptized as "The One." "Branding Obamessiah" tells this amazing story by looking at everything from Team Obama's evangelistic rallies and iconic images to its sacred words and supra-racial rhetoric. Author Mark Edward Taylor examines Obama-themed comic books, magazines, logos, music, "holy" relics, social-media epistles, and children's books. He reveals the messianic rhetoric in Obama's carefully crafted autobiographical writings and public speeches. Taylor shows how such messianic imagery reinforced true believers' own hope-filled websites, blogs, publications, and videos. "Branding Obamessiah" includes nearly 1,000 endnotes with links to online audio, video, and text sources so readers can follow the fascinating tale of a multimedia campaign that generated more online news coverage and inspired more pro and con bloggers and YouTube videos than all previous presidential campaigns combined. Hardly anything Obama said or did escaped cameras, microphones, and online scrutiny. "Branding Obamessiah" is an engaging and illuminating trip through the most quasi-religious campaign of any modern US presidential candidate. The book also serves as a warning about the increasingly potent combination of entertainment, celebrity, social media, and religion in American politics. TABLE OF CONTENTS Foreword by Cal Thomas Introduction Prologue 1 Getting in the Game PART ONE: Changing the Political Game 2 Selling an American Product 3 Marketing Subconscious Spirituality 4 Branding Obamessiah 5 Revealing the Sacred Six PART TWO: Composing a Creation Story 6 Filling In Obama's Missing Years 7 Targeting His Anger 8 Remembering Fiction PART THREE: Chanting Sacred Words 9 Keeping It Simple 10 Feeling In the Blanks 11 Seizing American Exceptionalism 12 Changing the Truth PART FOUR: Venerating Sacred Images 13 Seeing as Believing 14 Photographing Deity 15 Flipping through Obamagazines 16 Sheparding the Sheeple 17 Landing Logobama 18 Viewing Negatives PART FIVE: Observing Sacred Rituals 19 Traveling with Brother Love's Salvation Show 20 Multitasking for the Messiah 21 Collecting Campaign Relics 22 Pilgrimaging to Holy Places PART SIX: Bringing in Believers 23 Crowding around the One 24 Programming Intimacy 25 Tuning In to Barockstar PART SEVEN: Coloring the Messiah 26 Absolving the National Guilt 27 Changing the Election's Complexion 28 Building a Millenarian Movement Epilogue Notes