To be fair, a political hero need not necessarily be a politician or someone who would be able to make sense of a current political debate.
I doubt anyone would raise an eyebrow over someone having Gandhi or Mandela as political heroes and the reasons for naming them would presumably be similar to those for naming Jesus.
Regardless, if he's running hard for Iowa mentioning Jesus is probably a good idea irrespective of context.
I certainly agree that a political hero need not be a politician and that mentioning Jesus probably helps candidates in Iowa. But Gandhi and pre-presidential Mandela undertook overtly political causes. It is not clear that Jesus did undertake an overtly political mission, but if he did, it was a much different one than Republican candidates who now rely on his name imagine.
Oh, sure. I mostly meant that he might view, say, Jesus perseverance in face of opposition and principled stand for concepts like love and brotherhood to be things to guide his political endeavours.
I don't think most Western politicians naming Mandela or Gandhi are fighting apartheid or colonialisation in their own countries. Nor are they in jail or referring to those politicians domestic programmes.
