The Other Side Swallows The Kool-Aid
It was not that long ago that we made a virtual sport of puncturing Huckabee’s claims to divine oversight, approval, and guidance of his campaign. We have, to date, largely ignored Obama’s religious issues because, to date, it was about the church he belonged to, not him. Well, that is rapidly changing:
Barack Obama has put his religion back into the headlines, trumpeting the power and salvation of faith and asking a church audience in South Carolina to help him become “an instrument of God” and join him in creating “a Kingdom right here on Earth.”
Obama has long been trying to capitalize on messianic-type energy to compel his campaign forward, but this is the first time I am aware that that he has claimed actual prophetic status. What was bad for Huck is bad for Obama. I am not sure I need to cover the ground too much here; we have been over it so much. But I do one observation and a hypothetical.
The first is to compare and contrast the news coverage of all this. Obama’s church is now getting a going over that is not that dissimilar, though much less intense, than what Romney’s church did. Now, much as it pains me to say anything nice about a Democrat, he does not deserve this anymore than Romney did. At least until he crossed the Huck line in these claims. What is extraordinary, though, is how much coverage this utterance from Obama has gotten compared to when Huck said the same things repeatedly. I guess if you claim divine intervention from the majority religion, its not news, but from something a little different like Obama’s church it is?
And now the hypothetical. Imagine Huck v Obama. Two men, running for president, both claiming to be God’s best representative. What is the net result of such an election battle? I can promise you it is not good, not good at all. Religious war comes to mind, at least rhetorical war. It would be bad for politics, bad for the churches involved, and bad for the nation in general. That’s why the common convention has been to avoid this kind of stuff.
I find myself shaking my head in amazement - and praying for some wisdom for our candidates.
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Posted in Candidate Qualifications, News Media Bias, Political Strategy, Understanding Religion | 2 Comments » | 
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2 Responses to “The Other Side Swallows The Kool-Aid”
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TVHall on 15 Mar 2008 at 11:48 pm #
Question: Is criticism of the statements made by the Obama’s pastor undeserved? These are not questionable remarks from 150 years in the past. These were made, on tape, a mere handful of years ago. Perhaps this is not what is being referred to, but I think it begs clarification.
grylnsmn on 17 Mar 2008 at 5:08 am #
There is a critical distinction between the involvement of Romney’s religion in the race and the recent involvement of Obama’s religion in the race. Obama brought his religion into the race and opened himself to criticism because of it when he invited Jeremiah Wright to be involved in his campaign in an official capacity (Wright served on the “Spiritual Advisory Committee” for Obama’s campaign until last Friday).
Because Wright was affiliated with the Obama campaign in an official capacity, it is completely appropriate to focus on comments that he has made. That is no different than any other campaign advisor.
On the other hand, I’m not aware of anything indicating that any general authority (past or present) of the LDS Church is affiliated (or ever has been) with the Romney campaign. They are not connected with the campaign in any way, except for the fact that they share a religious affiliation with the candidate.
Because of that, it is appropriate to criticize both Wright and Obama because of Wright’s remarks. Wright because of the remarks themselves, and Obama for bringing Wright into his campaign.