Jody Bottum, in the course of lauding Bush's 2nd inaugural address in the Weekly Standard, inadvertently brings up something I had overlooked before. I had been misremembering the brouhaha about Bush saying his favorite philosopher was Jesus back in 2000 -- in fact, Bush was asked about his favorite political philsopoher. What kind of political philosophy do the neocons think Christ had? His people expected their messiah to be a great king and military leader, another David. Christ, who brought salvation instead of political might, was a grave disappointment.
Maybe Bush's speechwriters are out to fix that, if Bottum is right: "In this sense, Bush's speech in the Washington snow isn't theological at all. This is not Christ the sacrificial lamb, or Christ the New Adam who breaks the curse of Original Sin. This is rather Christ the philosopher--and George W. Bush has just delivered the most purely philosophical address in the history of America's inaugurations." In other words, Christ stripped of his role as savior and made into a propaganda tool for more wars.
