Richard Fernandez:

Sometimes the symbolism of a political campaign says more than any speech. On Barack Obama’s official campaign literature, he wears a halo. I’m not sure whether this means he is supposed to be a saint, a messiah, or a god. I would venture to suggest that beatification usually happens after one is dead, not while one is alive.

Using a halo for living people is something one would normally expect for Hassan Nasrallah in a Hezbollah poster, not for an American presidential candidate. As it is, I think it is noteworthy that Napoleon crowned himself Emperor while it is the Obama campaign that crowns Barack Obama with a wreath of light.

When you believe in miracles, you do not need to acknowledge reality when it stares you in the face. Abracadabra, yes we can, and poof, the world changes for the better much as Tinker Bell revives in Peter Pan when the children clap and shout, “I believe in fairies!” When Shabbatai Zevi converted to Islam, there were even some Jews who thought that being a true Jew meant overtly (falsely) converting to a religion other than Judaism.

One interesting aspect of the English language is that it has historically been associated with science, seafaring, commerce, and industry. When modern people think of the amulet incantation, we usually think of archaic languages with rich traditions of religion and magic, languages such as Latin, Greek, Hebrew, and Aramaic. Or Sanskrit, Ancient Egyptian, Old Norse, Classical Maya, or Nahuatl. Or, in the case of Java, Arabic. Arabic has been the preferred magical language for the Javanese djimat (an amulet based upon the magic of written script).

It appears as though the English language is coming into its own as the premier language of magical incantation, a circumstance exploited by Barack Obama.