Sowell has lost it. I do not for the life of me see how a comparison between Jim Jones and Barack Obama can be made, except in the context of illustrating an unstable personality (Jones) by contrasting it with a stable personality (Obama). Obama hasn’t sought to isolate his followers as Jones did, and he is far more self assured than Jones was. Nor has Obama tried to maintain a cult of personality around him and Jones did, instead accepting being “brought down to earth” by the realities of governing. Th at last is the cardinal point that proves Sowell to be loony: Barack Obama would rather be president and get things done than play as messiah and do nothing.