The good news is that Jesus Christ has finally been depicted as a black man on the cover of a national magazine.

The bad news is that the black man is rapper Kanye West.

What is it with this guy and his ego? Did his parents have to keep a crowbar handy when he was growing up, the better to pry his lips loose from the mirrors around the house? Whatever the case, we can be sure of one thing.

Kanye West will never, ever be separated from the one he loves the most.

Now, I don’t know if the picture of Kanye with a crown of thorns on the cover of Rolling Stone magazine was his idea or that of the editors, but it’s a bad one. Folks comparing themselves to Jesus Christ got the big ix-nay many years ago.

John Lennon, the late member of the Beatles, said in the mid-1960s that his group was “more popular than Christ.” After the grits hit the fan and folks took him to task, Lennon found out how wrong he was.

Even Martin Luther King Jr. (and it’s appropriate to say “rest in peace, Coretta Scott King” at this point) slipped up and compared himself to Jesus. It was during a discussion King was having with several members of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, who were prodding King about why he wouldn’t join them in a particular demonstration.

King answered that he couldn’t because he was out on bail from a previous arrest. The SNCC folks weren’t convinced. Hey, most of us are out on bail ourselves, they told him.

King then said he’d choose the time and place of his Golgotha, which is the hill near Jerusalem where Jesus was crucified. After that, SNCC workers referred to King as De Lawd. They didn’t mean it as a compliment.

Now comes Kanye, who, when it comes to ego, makes Lennon and King look downright humble. Heck, Kanye makes Muhammad Ali during his most braggadocios days look humble. That’ll happen to a guy who’s racked up way too many frequent flyer miles on Ego Trip Airlines. Can this guy get more full of himself?

We certainly have to look at his notorious “George Bush doesn’t care about black people” line much differently now. Did Kanye say it because he meant it, or because he wanted to boost sales of his new CD and bring attention to himself? Did he say it because he knew he’d get instant “black points” with those black folks whose sole purpose in life is to hate President George W. Bush?

Black folks like that have a serious problem. If Bush jumped into a swimming pool and saved the life of a drowning black baby, these black folks would probably tell him to throw the poor infant back.

Whatever the reason Kanye came down on Bush, the comment was downright silly. Kanye showed he’s in that group of black folks who really need to get over themselves.

We were NOT the only victims of Hurricane Katrina, or the incompetence of federal, state and local government in responding to it.

We are NOT the only people in the world who’ve ever been enslaved.

We are NOT the only people who’ve suffered from racism and discrimination.

A full reading of the history of black folks from the beginning of time until now indicates we’ve been both the enslaved and the enslavers, the oppressed and the oppressors, the victims and the victimizers. Sometimes, it simply is NOT just all about us. But Kanye’s Bush bashing is wrong for another reason.

Kanye was talking about a president who, some say, has appointed the most diverse cabinet in American history. In fact, Bush has appointed two black secretaries of state in succession.

How many black secretaries of state have Democratic presidents appointed? Let me hear the answer, Kanye. Let me hear it.

Oh, yeah -- the answer is none. Zero. Bush is also the mastermind behind the No Child Left Behind Act, which was passed specifically to close the achievement gap between black students and white students. How many Democratic presidents have signed legislation specifically with the purpose of closing the educational achievement gap between black students and white students?

Let me hear the answer, Kanye. Let me hear it.

The answer is none. But when your ego is so large that the Hubble Space Telescope has picked up portions of it in other galaxies, it’s hard to notice when you’ve got your foot crammed down your throat.