Obama's Prayer - Actually Pretty Good!

Barack Obama visited the Western Wall in Jerusalem, wrote a prayer to God and, as millions before him had done, reverently placed the paper in a crack in the wall.

Then a student took the paper and gave it to the Ma-ariv Newspaper to publish. The Newspaper previously made waves by publishing a racist cartoon of Obama back in February. This action was, of course, denounced by the rabbi in charge of the site.

But, that doesn't put the rabbit back in the hat now, does it?

The note was published on the front page of the paper and quickly got picked up by the blogosphere (e.g. here) where the photo and printed message was passed on.


I guess the move was meant to sell papers, but considering the history between the paper in question and Obama, it's still a little strange. I figure this is going to be a pretty strong help to obama for the next few days.

Of course, he gets sympathy for the paper's transgressions against his privacy. The Jewish community is going to be stunned by it. Even his opponents in Israel will denounce this kind of action.

Then there is the added publicity he will get from the event itself. This is the first time in history a prayer put in the wall was published without the approval of the person who wrote it - even the Pope's prayer was kept private until he released its contents. That kind of record will be sure to propel the news even further into the limelight - which means that as positive publicity, its value is even greater.

Finally, there is the prayer itself:

protect my family and me, forgive my sins and help me guard against pride and deception despair. Give me the wisdom to do what is right and just and make me an instrument of your will.

This is pretty close to an IDEAL prayer for a politician to pray! It's publication will go a long way toward improving the spiritual image of Obama, which is much in need of repair after the Reverend Wright debacle finished with it. It shows humility and a desire to do God's will. It shows care for his family, a desire for wisdom and willingness to act in a righteous manner. It even asks for forgiveness of sins without listing what those sins may be - in other words, it's a prayer VERY well designed for release to the public.

I'm not saying that Obama expected it to be stolen - no doubt he just took care to write it in a way that could be released if needed. I'm just saying that having it stolen and published works very much to his advantage. Indeed, he couldn't have planned it any better.

Update: Obama's prayer says "Despair" - not "Deception" - thanks GBM for the correction!