"No, he's not a Messiah. We just worship him."

The New Republic gets stupid, again, in an article dismissing the idea that they think of Obama as a messiah. They write:

The hysteria about Obama's alleged messianism is, in part, a calculated response to his wild popularity with the Democratic base.

Uh, no its not.
There is nothing calculated about watching a bunch of people chanting "O. Bam. Ah." at a rally and thinking, "Huh. That might be unhealthy."
There is a population of people out there who literally think that if Obama gets elected, their lives will suddenly get better. That Obama will take care of them.

Just so that we're all clear on this, I understand what Democrats believe.
Democrats don't think of Obama as actually being the return of Jesus Christ to our earth.
There is a big difference for Democrats. To start with, Democrats don't believe in believing in Christ. At least as a party. That's soooo 1974. Yes, the Dems are co-opting the idea of believing in God for this convention. They are allowing prayer meetings and that kind of thing. But that's just a big photo op.

-And I think its pretty funny to watch Democrats try to toe the line between offending the bitter gun-toting-Jesus-freaks, and offending their own bitter Pagan-ritual-astrology-vegitarians-against-Christ. Nothing entertains me more then the guy wearing pyramid earings talking about Fein Shei who questions those who read a bible.

On the other hand, there has to be a word for it when someone looks at a potential leader and actually believes that this Democrat (as opposed to Bill, the last one-who-will-set-us-free) is the real deal. No, that word isn't a Messiah. And its not hope.

I believe the word for those type of believers is... Naive.