Barack Obama's purpose-driven gamble -- and his "home run"

[jefferson_dem]

Barack Obama's purpose-driven gamble
The Democrat wanted to show he could compete for evangelical votes, too – but did he succeed?

By Mike Madden

Aug. 17, 2008 | One of the candidates for president strolled onto the stage at a massive megachurch in suburban Orange County Saturday night and started joking easily with the Rev. Rick Warren, maybe the most popular evangelical leader in America -- but just plain "Pastor Rick" to the candidate. He talked about his certainty that "Jesus Christ died for my sins, and I am redeemed through him," said Americans should be soldiers in the fight against evil and defined marriage as between a man and a woman -- "and God is in the mix." This particular Christian candidate was so on his game that after a segment on domestic policy ended, Warren told him -- his mic still live as the TV feed cut to commercial -- "Home run."

Oh, and John McCain was there, too.

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What more than 5,000 Saddleback Church members (and more watching the live TV broadcast at churches around the country) saw in the event's first hour, when Obama took the stage, was a Democratic candidate who was plainly comfortable talking about the role his Christian faith plays in his life, and who used his religious views to explain and defend his political ones. "I think America's greatest moral failure in my lifetime has been that we still don't abide by that basic precept in Matthew that whatever you do for the least of my brothers, you do for me," Obama said, with Warren affirming his choice of scripture by finishing the quote. "That basic principle applies to poverty. It applies to racism and sexism. It applies to, you know, not having -- not thinking about providing ladders of opportunity for people to get into the middle class." Not bad for a guy who's still trying to hammer it into some voters' heads that he's not a Muslim.

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Still, the event -- and Warren -- offered Obama a chance to show he could play on what's been unfriendly territory for Democrats. Warren tries hard not to emulate fire-and-brimstone social conservative preachers like Pat Robertson or Jerry Falwell; his best-selling book "The Purpose Driven Life" borrows from the language of self-help, and he's focused his church more on issues like poverty, climate change and global AIDS than on whether, say, a gay rights parade in New Orleans caused Hurricane Katrina. Obama had spoken at Saddleback before, getting a warm reception on World AIDS Day in 2006.

So with a friendlier interlocutor than he might have found elsewhere, Obama sought ways to reach common ground with evangelical voters, rapping the Bush administration for allowing the number of abortions to go up even as George W. Bush decries the procedure. He said he believed marriage was between a man and a woman, but defended civil unions by saying that "my faith is strong enough, and my marriage is strong enough, that I can afford those civil rights to others, even if I have a different perspective or a different view." Asked which Supreme Court justice he would not have appointed, he named Clarence Thomas, because "I don't think that he was a strong enough jurist or legal thinker at the time for that elevation, setting aside the fact that I profoundly disagree with his interpretations of a lot of the Constitution." Asked what his greatest personal failing was, Obama said he was sometimes too cautious. "When I find myself taking the wrong step, I think a lot of times it's because I'm trying to protect myself, instead of do God's work." (McCain's answer to that question wasn't likely to please many Evangelicals who disapprove of adultery or divorce: "My greatest moral failing, and I have been a very imperfect person, is the failure of my first marriage.")

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Still, for a first joint appearance, not to mention Obama's first stop back from a week-long vacation in Hawaii, they both seemed to do pretty well. As a final question, Warren asked each man what he would say to people who opposed the forum because it took place in a church. (Never mind that those people might be made of straw.) Both candidates said voters ought to hear from them in all kinds of venues. "If you are a person of faith like me, I believe that things will work out and we will get the president that we need," Obama said. "What you want, though, is just to make sure that people have good information, that they're not just consuming negative ads or the kind of nasty tit-for-tat that has become so common in politics. I want people to know me well." Watching Obama chat easily with Warren in front of a potentially hostile crowd you couldn't help but wonder whether the best way to do that wouldn't be for him to go ahead and take McCain's call to do town halls together. After all, why should an act this good -- their only joint appearance besides the formal debates this fall -- only be for the church-going folks?

http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2008/08/17/saddleback/print.html

[jerryster]

1. Excellent post! Thanks. n/t