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Saturday, Jul 4, 2009
Having lived for some time in Orange County and having spent a lot of energy trying to get a fix on Rick Warren (having lived in the midst of his "flock" for about five years), I can't help but think his main aim all along has been to find the best grip on the public's trust and move from a laid-back evangelical minister (and highly successful writer of books) to a sort of reworked Billy Graham. If I'm right, then Warren hit the real home run by setting up this remarkably smooth and interesting forum.
Let me be clear: I still haven't come to trust Warren, and I am, as from the start, very skeptical about his Saddleback megachurch (or any megachurch, but we're talking about this one). Like John McCain, Warren can be a likeable guy -- and, in fact, is generally likeable and not prone to the insane outbursts McCain has exhibited over the years. Still, he is interested in control, in power, and in herding his flock (or should we just call it a herd?) of unusually well-educated and generally upper-middle class Orange County professing Christians. But his ambitions no doubt exceed his current reach. This could be a good thing (or at least not the frightening thing Billy Graham has represented to me for nearly my entire life), but it also could be just a more palatable version of the National Spiritual Advisor. Warren's no dummy; he knows Graham is going to leave a void. I'd prefer that void remain just that: a void. But it probably won't. We could do worse than having Rick Warren hovering around the halls of power, but he is one really tough read.
As for the direct political implications of the Saddleback event, I think the candidates both did rather well, but given the locale and the setting I can't help but give big props to Obama. According to O.C. contacts, the impression left on the citizens of that reddest of red dots in a purple-blue state has been generally good, sometimes even perplexingly so. This could be a great start, the ground of Orange County being moved by something other than an earthquake. It would be nice, if essentially meaningless, to give pause to some of the most Republican of Republicans. It may not be a bellweather event, but it may well be a barometer of how things will play out in the fall.
McCain's repeated mentions of his POW experience, for one thing, seem to have snagged the attention of folks in the O.C. This I find especially interesting, as I wonder just how far he can ride that tired horse before it falls out from beneath him. Then again, I am rooting for the tall, skinny guy -- and watching Warren more closely than ever.
I too have observed Rick Warren for a bit and find his motives inscrutable. What does he believe? What is he up to? Is he authentic? I don't know. He's not as easy to demonize as his predecessors nor is he as easily dismissed.
Make no mistake: Evangelicals are not fooled by Obama. We see his record, the fact that he sat under the teaching of a heretical (and racist) preacher for 20 years, and we see where his priorities lie.
Obama can continue to waste his time on this effort. It only helps McCain.
He does not speak for all Evangelicals, and he certainly does not speak for all Christians. I grew up in the Midwest and got an incredible spiritual education at a conservative church. I am appalled by the policies advanced by McCain and the Bush administration BECAUSE I am a Christian. I am certainly not the only person who feels this way. The Republican party has lost a lot of ground with the church and will continue to as long as they act without any regard for basic morality (I am speaking generally here, and not implying that every Republican in the country is morally bankrupt).
This is not to say that I have any illusions that one candidate or the other is more "Christian." I simply find Obama's policies and rhetoric more in line with my sense of morality, which is based on my understanding of the Bible, both from personal study and the teachings of genuinely conservative ministers such as my father.
I doubt McCain has an introspective bone in his body. Asked for personal insights, he launches into his pre-mixed, pre-approved stump speech.
He only considers the question long enough to catch the buzzword that will allow him to kickstart a stump speech talking point, no matter how unrelated to the question asked. And turning to the audience with that dated, insincere "my friends ..." makes him look even more like the tired old used car salesman he is at heart.
Of course the OC crowd just ate. it. up.
Obama looked thoughtful and intelligent, like a kindly professor. I.e., he looked like a 'weak' egghead. McCain came on like gangbusters with rah-rah crap like guaranteeing he'll get Bin Laden if he has to chase him to the gates of hell and all that prisoner-of-war stuff that one simply can't sneer at (well, except, with qualms, in the privacy of one's own TV-viewing den). He played to the audience ... and I cringed.
Evidently having The Answers in a complex world is the way to go. Being thoughtful just don't cut it.
What I do hope is that that ridiculous 'Christian' venue is not representative. The country is pro-choice. Occasional nuts savage the clinics, but mobs of citizens don't. ('Mobs' of people use them.) Ditto gay people - who could have a problem with that nice Ellen anyway. Gay people are the new Jews, or something - get comfortable with them as entertainers ... TV works both ways, promoting 'tolerance' as well as giving pandering opportunities to dangerous caricatures like McCain.
Ya know, maybe I'm being paranoid, but I thought the evening was a genteel lynching...
And will the election be the same thing? Will the mindless yahoos outnumber the thoughtful people in the polling booths? I can't contemplate that question without shuddering.
And yet, and yet... The country is pro-choice. Nobody I know gives a flying anything about religion.
But then I'm not American! Merely an observer (and victim of whatever you Americans decide to do with the world).
(In my country, a Christian - and no quote marks - politician brought us universal health care. He seemed to think that was righteous. I bet those fat cats at the Saddleback monstrosity think that's EVIL socialism.)
(Christianity - and I ain't one - requires a lot of thought and sacrifice...think Jesus in a megachurch and feel your brain implode.) (I thought Obama got in a good zinger at that well-fed smug preacher-man with the "rich" business - isn't there some famous Jesus saying about rich men that, with any luck, will play itself in viewers' minds...)
Um, and I thought Obama's remarks about Clarence Thomas were kinda throwing a brother under the bus to score points with whitey. (Do not interpret that as a pro-Thomas remark - I despise the man.) Whereas McCain's obvious, horrible pandering on the same Supreme Court question is the kind of thing that REALLY scores points, alas.
I got up in the middle of the night to write this, cuz I was too disturbed to sleep...
The Wasilla soap opera just gets weirder as Palin complains critics are "picking apart a good point guard"
The media outlet's use of Bush euphemisms sparks a much-needed debate on journalistic standards.
And so are his Fox News pals, who lambasted Sen. Al Franken's "stolen election"
An inflexible right wing is allowing the Golden State to drown in debt. But it's not alone
Thanks for sharing, Governor. Now please take a cue from Norm Coleman, and go away
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