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Obama would have a chance of working with an audience like Saddleback if evangelicals in particular and "christians" in general were really followers of the teachings of Jesus. Their relationship with Jesus is more of an "I'm better than you" bumper sticker that in most cases justifies a sense of superiority, a tendency toward clannishness. Thus simplistic appeals to xenophobia and greed (bomb the foreigners, lower taxes!) like those of Bush and McCain work so well with this group -- where someone like Obama, who sounds like he actually expects them to make sacrifices Jesus might approve of, to open their hearts (and wallets) to the less fortunate among us, no they don't like that. He's too nuanced. He doesn't sound "tough" enough.
If Jesus came back to earth and gained any measure of political power through the strength and wisdom of his teachings, the Christian Right would string him up all over again.
