Chris Matthews: 'Obama came amongst us'

MSNBC host Chris Matthews, who said during the 2008 presidential campaign that Democrat candidate Barack Obama gave him a "thrill up his leg," is at it again, this time using biblical language to describe President Obama coming to the MSNBC studios to do an interview with him.

Matthews gleefully told his reporter colleagues after the interview: 'He came amongst us."

In 2008, Matthews said of Obama: "I have to tell you, you know, it's part of reporting this case, this election, the feeling most people get when they hear Barack Obama's speech. My, I felt this thrill going up my leg. I mean, I don't have that too often."

Thursday night, liberal pundits Howard Fineman of the Huffington Post and David Corn of Mother Jones joined Matthews for a post-interview analysis.

Fineman noted the president appeared to be "dealing with complexities" of government and said, "Change you can believe in, but making change happen is hard."

Corn said he "saw a president who remains frustrated with the political media culture that he has to work within and that he's looking to rally people, students, reporters, people within the media."

"David Corn, you skeptic, he came to us today. He came amongst us," Matthews replied.

Corn responded that Obama is "trying to rally people behind this vision that he's promoting for a couple years."

Columnist Mary Katharine Ham got right to the point of Matthews' reaction to Obama.

"And, lo, the president came upon them, and the glory of the president shone round about them: and they were sore afraid," she wrote, satirizing on the story of the birth of Jesus in the New Testament.

Matthews, before the interview, had been giddy, saying he got "Christmas Eve excitement" about the interview.

The Blaze reported the toughest question Matthews asked was whether Hillary Clinton or Joe Biden would run for the White House in 2016, to which Obama responded, "Not a chance am I going there."

Obama spent most of the interview lobbying for support for Obamacare. He also blamed President Reagan for America's distrust of government.

Obama also said the media gets wrapped up in the failures of the government but ignores the many successes.

"Things like the IRS scandal is what drives news," the president said in the interview, despite the fact that Obama said that people on both sides of the aisle were outraged by the accusations that the IRS singled out tea-party groups for bureaucratic reasons.

“You’ve got an office in Cincinnati … in the I.R.S. office that, I think, for bureaucratic reasons is trying to streamline what is a difficult law to interpret about whether [a] nonprofit is actually a political organization [that] deserves a tax exempt agency. And they’ve got a list,” Obama said. “And suddenly, everybody’s outraged.

“That is what gets news,” Obama said. “That’s what gets attention.”

Chris Matthew’s teleprompter at American University in Washington D.C., Dec. 5, 2013.

Not everyone shared Matthews' enthusiasm about the interview, including members of a troop of ballerinas who had been scheduled to use the American University facility for dress rehearsals for "The Nutcracker," which is to go on stage this weekend.

American University booted them to allow for Matthews' interview.

According to Fox News' Todd Starnes, "American University admitted they dumped Ballet Petite' two final dress rehearsals so they could host MSNBC's 'Hardball College Tour.' Matthews will be presiding over a one-hour conversation with the man he's likened to President Kennedy's last brother, President Abraham Lincoln and Jesus Christ."

Melissa Carney, the ballet company’s artistic director, said in a report in the Washington Post a contract to use the facility had been signed nearly a year ago, but the university simply shoved them out.

"They did not ask," she told the Post. "They told us."

Parent Michael Robinson told Fox the young ballerinas were upset.

"It's the holiday season. They were so excited about practicing. It’s as if the Grinch came a little early," he said.

Messianic references to Obama seem to be multiplying of late. It was just days ago when WND reported a new lesson plan for American school students, offered on an open marketplace for educators, was suggesting such a reference.

The lesson, created by Sherece Bennett, is based on the book "Barack Obama: Son of Promise, Child of Hope" by Nikki Grimes.

Kyle Olson reported the plan on his Education Action Group website, commenting that it casts Obama "in a messianic light. Literally."

In one passage, Olson points out, a young Obama sees beggars and wonders, "Will I ever be able to help people like these?'"

"Hope hung deep inside of him," the book says.

Olson quotes another section: "Before dawn each morning, Barry rose – his mother's voice driving him from dream land. 'Time for learning English grammar and the Golden Rule. Be honest, be kind, be fair,' she taught him."

The lesson even uses biblical references to describe Obama, explaining how he changed his name from Barry.

"One morning, he slipped on the name he'd been born with. The name of his father, Barack. For the first time in his life, he wore it proudly – like a coat of many colors."

"Uh oh," wrote Olson, "Another Obama-inspired biblical reference in a government school!

"But there's no controversy here. Leftists will use God and the Bible, in instances such as these, when it appropriately fits their propaganda purposes."

WND reported over the Obama White House tenure on the widespread veneration of Obama since his 2008 campaign.

Explained talk radio host Rush Limbaugh at one time: "They happen to think Obama is the end of the world, but in a great way, he's it. There's nothing better, Obama is the messiah. People still have that kind of affection for him."

Earlier, in a WND column, Rev. Jesse Lee Peterson wrote: "President Barack Obama is the most divisive man to ever occupy the White House – period! Yet, 95 percent of black Americans worship him as if he's the messiah. Why?"

He noted Hollywood personality Jamie Foxx's comment at the Soul Train Awards: "Thank God, and our lord and savior, Barack Obama!"

Jesse Lee Peterson's book mercilessly exposes popular black "icons" – "Scam: How the Black Leadership Exploits Black America"

Peterson continued: "Most black preachers and leaders secretly agree with Jamie Foxx, which is why there was no outcry from these people. Never mind that Obama stands for everything that is godless, i.e.: unfettered abortions, class warfare, amnesty for illegals, legalizing same-sex marriage, revoking DADT (weakening the U.S. Armed Forces) and lack of resolve in his support for Israel."

WND reported when an observant reporter at a Democratic National Convention came across a shocking bit of "kitsch" for sale that seemed to suggest God so loved the world, He sent us Barack Obama.

"The Cult of Obama staggers on," wrote David Weigel of Slate.com. "The streets near the convention zone are dotted with vendors selling for-us-by-us Obama merch [sic]."

Among the available merchandise, Weigel came across a photo calendar attributed to James Hickman and offered by a man who reportedly claimed to be Hickman's nephew.

Most of the calendar's months are filled with complimentary photos of Obama and factoids about the history of black Americans. But for the August entry -- the month of Obama's birth -- the photo features the short-form birth certificate originally purported to be Obama's and the words, "Heaven Sent: For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life – John 3:16."

The calendar page, with Obama's purported birth certificate and a separate photo of sunlight streaming on the sitting president's profile, seems to suggest the "heaven sent" one is not Jesus, but Obama.

And as WND has reported, the adoration of Obama has often strayed into near deification.

"Obama is, of course, greater than Jesus," the Dutch newspaper Politiken opined in 2009.

The editorial, written on the occasion of a legislative vote in favor of Obama's plan for a health care takeover by the government, asserted "the right of every American not to be financially shipwrecked when their health fails" as well as the "biggest ever financial support package in America's history, a major disarmament agreement and the quickest-ever re-establishment of American reputation."

"On the other hand, we have Jesus' miracles that everyone still remembers, but which only benefited a few. At the same time, we have the wonderful parables about his life and deeds that we know from the New Testament, but which have been interpreted so differently over the past 2000 years that it is impossible to give an unequivocal result of his work," the newspaper said.

Then there was British recording artist Sting's suggestion that Obama could be the divine answer to the world's problems.

"In many ways, he's sent from God, because the world's a mess," he said in interview with the Associated Press.

Earlier, it was an associate editor at a college newspaper who wrote, "Obama is my Jesus."

Maggie Mertens, the associate editor at the campus paper at Massachusetts' Smith College, said: "Obama is my homeboy. And I'm not saying that because he's black – I'm saying that in reference to those Urban Outfitters T-shirts from a couple years ago that said, 'Jesus is my homeboy.' Yes, I just said it. Obama is my Jesus."

Her confession came in the Smithsophian's commentary section under the headline: "I Will Follow Him: Obama As My Personal Jesus."

"While you may be overtly religious and find this to be idol-worshiping, or may be overtly politically correct and just know that everything in that sentence could be found offensive, I'm afraid it's true anyway," she wrote.

"The Truth" by Michael D'Antuono

Also, an artist who planned to unveil a portrait of Obama in a Christ-like pose with a crown of thorns upon his brow canceled the event due to "overwhelming public outrage."

Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan, meanwhile, declared when Obama talks, "the messiah is absolutely speaking."

During Obama's 2008 campaign, a website called "Is Barack Obama the Messiah?" captured the wave of euphoria that followed the Democratic senator's remarkable rise.

The site featured WND's on-site coverage of an Obama campaign rally in Seattle that captured the overwhelming adoration of his followers, who witnessed the candidate toss a bottle of water to a woman who had fainted and order the masses to part so she could receive care.

The messiah website was topped by an Obama quote strategically ripped from a Jan. 7, 2008, speech at Dartmouth College just before the New Hampshire Primary in which he told students: "A light will shine through that window, a beam of light will come down upon you, you will experience an epiphany, and you will suddenly realize that you must go to the polls and vote" for Obama.

The site included this: