Maureen Dowd, "What Would Jesus Do at the Masters?": Comparing Obama With Jesus

On Monday, after the conservative Supreme Court justices crucified the administration’s hapless solicitor general, Donald Verrilli, who had vainly sought to justify the constitutionality of Obamacare, the president responded:

"I’m confident that the Supreme Court will not take what would be an unprecedented, extraordinary step of overturning a law that was passed by a strong majority of a democratically elected Congress."

In the aftermath of this cock-and-bull story recited by a former constitutional law professor, you might hope that one of Obama's liberal devotees at The New York Times would see fit to chasten the president. Instead, in her latest opinion piece entitled "What Would Jesus Do at the Masters?" (http://www.nytimes.com/2012/04/08/opinion/sunday/dowd-what-would-jesus-do-at-the-masters.html?_r=1), Dowd begins by comparing Obama with Jesus:

"THERE was a boys’ club, of course, a band of ardent, jockeying disciples. But as his fame grew, the messiah was also surrounded by women and talked about women with great respect. With his father far away, the golden boy was most influenced by his strong mother and the women in his inner circle.

I’m talking about the real messiah, not Barack Obama, although it applies to both."

Dowd observes in this op-ed how Obama, like Jesus, has extensively availed himself of the services of women:

"Swaddled by women on stage, he bragged on Nancy Pelosi and Hillary Clinton."

Well, I'm entirely in favor of gender equality, but to be proud of apostles Pelosi and Clinton? Personally, I will never forget how Pelosi, after meeting with Assad in Damascus in 2007, labeled him a "model Arab leader." And consider Hillary's defense of Assad in March 2011, notwithstanding overwhelming evidence at the time of the Syrian president's monstrous suppression of the revolt against his regime (see: http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/syrias-reformer/2011/03/31/AFy4JFCC_story.html):

"Many of the members of Congress of both parties who have gone to Syria in recent months have said they believe he’s a reformer."

Why did Hillary go to bat for Assad? Because her savior had invested more than two years trying to show his love to Assad and Iran's Ahmadinejad and to convince these international lepers that they should behave themselves. In fact, Obama would have had better luck raising the dead, and today we have him trying to convince Iran to curtail its nuclear weapons development program in exchange for the US refraining from action against Damascus.

Later in this op-ed, Dowd draws an inapt comparison between Saudi Arabia and Israel:

"Saudi Arabia, which seemed to be inching ahead on women as ultra-Orthodox extremists in Israel fell backward, dropped its snail progress, refusing to sponsor women on its team for the London Olympics after intimating they could compete."

Excuse me, Maureen, but how does one compare Saudi Arabia, which imprisons and whips women who have been gang-raped, with Israel, which had a female prime minister, which had until very recently a female president of its supreme court, which had until very recently a female head of the leading opposition party, and whose leading financial institution is managed by a female CEO?

By the way, this is the same Maureen Dowd who traveled to Saudi Arabia in 2010 and declared that the Desert Kingdom is "chipping away at gender apartheid and cultural repression" (see: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/03/opinion/03dowd.html), notwithstanding the horrifying abuse of women that was being perpetrated in that country under her nose.

Bottom line: I think it is to Obama's credit that many key positions in his administration are held by women. Unfortunately, many of these women play just as diabolically as the boys. Meanwhile, suffering for our sins, Obama continues to ride on his ass around the links.