Forgive God-o-Meter if it’s the only one not to pick up on this earlier. According to New York Times columnist Bill Kristol (that still sounds weird, doesn’t it?) Michelle Obama has been saying publicly that Americans suffer from hole-in-the-soul disease:

[A]s she had argued in the Wisconsin speech, America’s illness goes far beyond a flawed political process: “Barack knows that at some level there’s a hole in our souls.” This was a variation of language she had used earlier on the campaign trail: “Barack Obama is the only person in this race who understands that, that before we can work on the problems, we have to fix our souls. Our souls are broken in this nation.”

Does this remind anyone besides God-o-Meter of George W. Bush’s rationale for supporting faith-based initiatives, that people require internal spiritual transformation if they hope to overcome seemingly external challenges like beating drug addiction or readjusting to civilian life after prison? But here’s where GOM gets confused. In the case of Bush’s support for federally funded faith-based initiatives, hole-in-the-soul disease is cured by the miraculous healing power of faith in the Almighty. What’s the cure for the much more widespread disease that Mrs. Obama identifies? Ist it simply the election of her husband? Or is God-o-Meter missing something?

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