Morford gained publicity for his column "Is Obama an Enlightened Being?", published in June 2008 about then-presidential candidate Barack Obama, in which he wrote, "Many spiritually advanced people I know (not coweringly religious, mind you, but deeply spiritual) identify Obama as a Lightworker, that rare kind of attuned being who has the ability to lead us not merely to new foreign policies or health care plans or whatnot, but who can actually help usher in "a new way of being on the planet", of relating and connecting and engaging with this bizarre earthly experiment." The column, and specifically the term "Lightworker", were mocked in publications including "National Review", "The American Spectator" and "SF Weekly".