Satan in The Bible
Americans have always believed that the devil likes to play politics. Colonial leader Henry Hugh Brackenridge claimed in 1778 that Satan inspired George III’s allegedly ruthless policy toward the colonies. Two decades later, Federalists claimed that the nascent Democratic Party had put forward the antichrist as a presidential candidate in the form of Thomas Jefferson. Later Jedidiah Morse, inventor of Morse code and end-times enthusiast, explained to audiences the Devil’s role in Jeffersonianism. He even claimed to have a list of Democrats who belonged to the Illuminati (though like Joe McCarthy, Morse never showed anyone his proof).
The History Channel miniseries The Bible has been alleged to continue this trend. Social media became frenzied after the third episode featured a Moroccan actor who viewers insisted looks like President Obama.
The Satan of The Bible doesn’t strike me as even a near cousin of the president’s. Moreover the whole controversy seems like an odd distraction for the left at a moment when a few conservative governors actively resist Medicaid expansion and continue their campaign against worker rights on every front. Or at a time when the Obama administration continues to refuse calls for transparency with regard to its unmanned drone attacks, apparently unaware that it is for such acts of imperial hubris that presidents are remembered.
