Letters to the Editor
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Obama, Christianity, the Golden Rule and the Drug War
Probably the prime tenet of Christianity when dealing with our fellow men is the Golden Rule.
Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.
Obviously, Obama wishes that as a teen/young adult he had been either incarcerated or forced into "treatment" and given a police record in either case.
That is exactly what he is advocating for others and as a committed Christian he would never advocate for others that which he would not wish to have done to himself.
That would certainly have done wonders for his presidential aspirations, eh?
But then there is one alternative.. Obama is not really a Christian and is advocating for others that which he would not have wished upon himself.
You decide which is more likely.
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Glenn:
You ask why Obama didn't distribute this flyer in other states, and even though I'm not an Obama supporter per se (nor an opponent), I'd offer a couple possibilities:
1) The obvious, that he believes it would backfire among the far less overtly religious populations of those states.
2) He didn't really believe the muslim smear was that big a deal, but having lost 2 primaries, and his Iowa momentum, he is panicking about it
3) Some internal polling indicates it (the muslim rumour) is more decidedly harmful to him in SC (Which would make sense since the state is so much more overtly religious).
I don't know which of these might be true, and it could be more than one.
As I said earlier the context matters and I don't agree that it is necessarily inconsistent to critique Huckabee's ads while giving Obama a tentative pass, or even critiquing him to a lesser degree, given the surrounding history and the policy preferences of the two men. For example a valid critique that definitely applies to Huck but not to Obama is that Huck's opponents stand to be harmed more by highlighting their religious beliefs (done subtly by highlighting Huck's own of course). Neither of Obama's opponents are from faith sects held in low regard in SC.
I don't want to equivocate for Obama. I'd rather he just be asked about this.
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Is it okay to ask the question: YES!
Obama supporters--asking questions like this is okay. I'm an Obama supporter. I'm glad the question has been raised. I dont' think the answer is that they are the same tactic--I think that although Obama may also be appealing to "christians" I don't think he is appealing to the same Christians as Huckabee is. As many posters have mentioned.
But people without religious affiliation or Jewish people or other people have the right to ask of any candidate--what kind of campaign is this? If the campaign becomes messianic--or the message appears messianic--clearly it's okay to critique this. And that pamphelet does push the boundaries of that a bit.
I am an Obama supporter--but I don't want his feet to lose track of the earth. I don't want him to be above any form of criticism. He needs to stay grounded to earn and to deserve the vote of all of his constituents. The answer to the question for me is no, but I'm not going to complain that it has been raised.
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rebecalouise
I, for one, wanted Glenn to know that another person out here felt strongly that he was wrong. And even inappropriate.
Inappropriate??
It's "inappropriate" to question, let alone to criticize, Barack Obama now? I can't ask questions about whether he's doing something inappropriate because that's "inappropriate?"
Obama is a political candidate running for President, not a cult leader or a sacred religious figure. As I said, I don't blame for this, because I don't think it's his fault, but many of his supporters -- a minority, but many -- have completely stopped recognizing that distinction.
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Obama is having to....
...deal with Republican code words.
Meaning, "Muslim" is simply a Republican substitute for the word "n*****."
Obviously, the Republicans can't go Strom Thurmond & scare their lily white hayseeds by shouting: "Obama is a n*****! Do you really want a n***** as your president?"
But they can go Sean Hannity & say: "Obama is a Muslim! Do you really want a Muslim as your president?
Of course, as far as Republican usage of these 2 words, n***** & Muslim are interchangeable are far as racist connotations.
So I think Obama is clever in that he is taking away the symbolic Republican meaning of the word "Muslim" (re: Islam=Farakkan) by openly proclaiming he is not a Muslim, but a Christian.
By doing this Obama is directly attacking Republican code being used against him.
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@ Alan Bennett
Clintonistas and Obamianiacs are just as awful as their right wing counterparts.
-- Alan Bennett
Amen! (Pun intended.)
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"Tactics," yes
Regarding religion, Huckabee and Obama are using similar tactics, but not the same. Just as every single politician in America uses the human baby as a tactic to essentially say, "I love families and babies - that's why you should vote for me. I won't support policies that are bad for families and babies," Huckabee and Obama are both putting their religions out there publicly in order to identify with the religious vote.
By vowing to actually attempt to amend the Constitution to be more in line with biblical rules, Huckabee sets himself apart. I don't think there's anything noteworthy about a politician portraying himself as religious - they all do it. Huckabee's tactics are very different from Obama's in that he has publicly advocated for changes in the Constitution and government policy, which would effect us all, religious and non-religious alike. Tactically, Obama hasn't (yet) gone that far.
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I guess the answer lies in the nebulous zone of nuance...
The question being "How can candidate A be criticized for this behavior while candidate B isn't?"
The answer to that exact question is: they shouldn't be treated differently. Period. If two men kill someone both should be prosecuted similarly.
Or should they?
What if one committed premeditated murder, and the other killed in self defense? Then we'd be looking at causality, not just the act itself.
In a similar vein, if Huckabee releases a set of "I'm a christian, dammit" ads in a targeted pander to the Christians of SC, and Obama does the same, then okay, both are being sleazy.
But what about the arguments in the post itself? What if Obama really is Christian, is pissed off about the undercurrent Muslim rumors, and is releasing something like this to "send a clear and undisputable message"? Would that be deserving of less criticism? Or would it still be the same?
Let's face it - this is the GOP playbook we're going to see when the real election goes off. They're going to make every possible connection between Obama and Osama, Hussein and Hussein, mocha skin which might even look *gasp* slightly Arabic. They're going to pull every nasty trick they possibly can.
So, if Obama is playing smart (and I'm not saying he is, merely that this is perhaps a reason), he's going to lay a foundation now he can build on later - and associating his name with a cross now lets him say "Hey, eight months ago I told you I was a Christian in no uncertain terms. That has not changed, no matter what my $%bag opponent would like you to think."
I'd do the same, really, if I weren't an atheist and disgusted at the obvious religious test held before our elected officials.
So I guess my short-version answer is: both are worthy of criticism, but I'm going to cut Obama more slack because his hand seems forced.
T