Poll: Obama More Popular Than Jesus, Gandhi and Martin Luther King Jr.

What the heck?! How badly did our last president screw this country up that people are now kneeling and praying to our new president? I know religion was part of Bush's agenda, but I don't think this was what he had in mind.


FOXNews.com

According to FOX News, President Obama topped a new Harris interactive poll that asked 2,634 Americans who they admire enough to call a hero. I shouldn't be surprised by this, but still - these pollees know who the other people on the list are right? (Okay, they weren't given a list, but still...wtf?!) I mean, is it possible that the sampling of people they polled just happened to have a high percentage of pot-head 8th grade drop-outs? Or does the result of the poll point to our self-centered nature as Americans, that we are only concerned about obtaining help for ourselves in the here and now, and nothing else matters? But then I guess if every single person who put Obama at #1 was recently laid off and struggling to survive, it makes sense.

I'm just starting to see how panicky everyone is lately and it seems like we just need to take a step back and get a little perspective. Yes, the economy sucks and the bad news seems to outweigh the good these days, but let's all sit down and watch a documentary on the Great Depression, or Holocaust, or Rwandan genocide, or read news articles about the human rights tragedies and genocide that are taking place in the world RIGHT NOW in places like the Sudan. It might make standing in the bread line or not having the right to marry a little less awful.

I'm not saying we should stop caring about our own problems, stop fighting to make things better here; I'm just saying that sometimes we need a little perspective. I know I do, I've been putting myself in check for years. Not that I don't care about others, but I have a tendency to be very self-centered, stuck in my own little world, and stuck in a rut of feeling sorry for myself. When that happens I need a wake-up call, so I read a book that's been one of my favorites since I was about 16 - it's called Alicia: My Story. It's the memoir of a girl who survived the Holocaust, barely, but lost her entire family. That's just one of many books that inspire me to step outside of myself a little and be a better person. I also watch the movie "Life Is Beautiful" - it may not be realistic but it's a perfect example of maintaining optimism in the worst of situations.

But I agree with those who say in order to make the world a better place we need to start with ourselves. We need to stem the bleeding and stabilize not just for ourselves, but so we can start improving the world for this and future generations. I hope President Obama sees it that way too.

Below is the full arcticle from FOXNews.com.

Poll: Obama More Popular Than Jesus, Gandhi and Martin Luther King Jr.
FOXNews.com
Saturday, February 21, 2009

John Lennon once claimed the Beatles were more popular than Jesus. Now President Obama has evidence that he's more popular than both.
Obama topped a new Harris interactive poll that asked 2,634 Americans who they admire enough to call a hero.
Jesus came in second on a list that includes God, Mahtma Gandhi and George Washington.
Other historic or notable figures making the top 10 were Martin Luther King Jr., Ronald Reagan, George W. Bush, Abraham Lincoln, John McCain, John F. Kennedy, U.S. Airways pilot Chesley Sullenberger and Mother Teresa.
Participants named the heroes randomly instead of being shown or read a list of people to choose from. The poll was conducted online between January 12 and 19, 2009.
At the 16th spot in the poll, George Washington, Bill Clinton and Colin Powell tied.
Other politicians who made the poll's top 25 include Hillary Clinton (12), FDR (13), Condoleezza Rice (12) and Sarah Palin (21).
God ranked 11th, between Mother Teresa and Hillary Clinton.
Of the multiple reasons participants gave to explain their choices of heroes, the ones most cited is, "Doing what's right regardless of personal consequences" with 89 percent, "Not giving up until the goal is accomplished" with 83 percent and "Doing more than what other people expect of them," with 82 percent. Also popular were "Overcoming adversity" and "Staying level-headed in a crisis."
In the first Harris Poll asking this question in 2001, Jesus came in first, followed by the Rev. King, Powell, John F. Kennedy and Mother Teresea.
Obama joked last year at a roast that contrary to rumors, he was not born in a manger but on the planet Krypton. Apparently, Obama is even more popular than Superman, who didn't make the cut.

P.S. You know, I've been writing about Obama a lot lately and it's strange because I'm not usually this political or soap-boxy. In fact, I stopped talking about politics and current events altogether for years. Only recently have I felt compelled to say something. This blog may seem random, a little schizo even, but it's a pretty true representation of where I'm at. One week I'm obsessed with photographing Mt. Rainier, the next week I may plunge myself into music (in which case I don't blog much, but update my playlist at the very bottom of this blog), and the next week I might be writing about Obama, who knows?? I do jump around a bit but in any case, there's sure to be some recurring themes.