Shirt picture courtesy of ObamaArtReport.com

I was intrigued by Anthony Bradley’s recent post “The Obama/McCain Messiah Complex.” A couple of things jumped out at me.  First, as with any broad-brush characterization, there’s clearly a mix of truth and generalities; the generalities wouldn’t stick without the hint of truth beneath them.  I’m thinking of how the late-night comedy hosts have had a good bit of fun with the “Messiah complex” that other people seem to have about Barack Obama, and it has indeed been funny.  Some of his followers (oops, I mean “supporters”) really do sound like they think he’s the Second Coming, and a little perspective is definitely in order.

But is there that much evidence that the candidates themselves have swallowed their own PR?  In my estimation, neither one appears to me to be a man who thinks that being the President of the United States is going to be an easy…

Photo courtesy NBC News, Augusta, GA

In today’s New York Times, William Kristol suggests that John McCain fire his entire campaign team because of the recent firestorm regarding McCain’s rallies and his shifting positions. Kristol writes,

“McCain should stop unveiling gimmicky proposals every couple of days that pretend to deal with the financial crisis. He should tell the truth — we’re in uncharted waters, no one is certain what to do, and no one knows what the situation will be on Jan. 20, 2009. But what we do know is that we could use someone as president who’s shown in his career the kind of sound judgment and strong leadership we’ll need to make it through the crisis.”

However, there is a deeper problem regarding the trajectory of both campaigns: they have become religious. Americans are expecting too much from both of Obama and McCain. As a result, both candidates have a profound…