Is Barack the savior?

Today's pet peeve: I am tired of conservatives telling liberals that we consider Barack Obama a messiah or savior. I don't and I don't know any liberal who does. I can't recall anyone with liberal leanings saying this, although I suppose in a nation of more than 300 million people a few examples of befuddlement can be found.

This is a classic case of conservatives believing their own propaganda. What starts out as a mildly amusing satirical joke, probably hatched by some clown on talk radio, is taken up and repeated ad nauseam as if it were actually true.

I believe - and the liberals I know believe - that America is in a big hole (largely thanks to George W. Bush) and it is not entirely clear whether we can collectively dig ourselves out of it. We are encouraged by Barack Obama because the guy with the shovel will now have a brain. This is cause for hope, which should not be confused with the promise of salvation.

That all said, I am bit put off by Barack Obama appearing at a podium bearing the words "office of the president elect." There is no office of the president elect, not in the Constitution anyway. Oh, I suppose there is an office in the de facto sense, some place where his staff have computers and a copying machine, but this shouldn't be elevated to a state of grandeur. To do so is pretentious and in poor taste.

Barack himself has said that there is only one president at a time. That should also apply to the office of the president. Of course, if I thought he were really a savior, then it would be fine with me.