Letters to the Editor
-
differences
Hi Glenn,
there is no difference in the pandering aspect of the brochure, but there are qualitative differences between obama and huckabbee. For example, Obama wouldn't advocate changing the constitution for god, as Huckabee did.
All these people pander--they call it campaigning. It would be more interesting if Obama changed the conversation as to what it means to him to be a christian--leaving right wing buzz words behind. These words oversimplify issues and imply beliefs that are not constitutional or democratic. If he keeps that up, I won't vote for him as I had planned.
-
Politics is a lot messier than law.
And it's a rare politician who never disappoints his followers.
-
Dominionists
If you're looking for Dominionists, about the last place to find them will be in a UCC congregation.
I agree with the others who are saying in essence that Obama is running these ads defensively, because "I'm not a Muslim!" is ineffective rhetoric. Really not the same thing as what Huckabee is doing.
-
Constitution vs the Bible
This country has always had a Christian president. The question now is the degree with which a new president will try to govern from a Christian perspective. Huckabee appears to put his religion on the same footing, if not higher, as the Constitution. Obama, however, is a Constitutional lawyer who knows that if he is elected president he will abide by the Constitution. Since this election has devolved into a war, so to speak, of religions, I think it is a smart move by the Obama campaign to market his own Christianity. This definitely appeals to African-Americans and evangelicals.
It is too bad that this country has come to this point. But, we are where we are and we will just have to deal with it for the time being. That being said, I trust Obama's Christianity more than I trust Huckabee's Christianity.
-
Maybe it's more of a statement about the Retards in SC than anything else.
Maybe you really can't pander BELOW the basest stupidest inclinations of the fine people of South Cakyclack. I mean, look at it for a moment, what do you think people should say? Make Protestant Christianity the law of the land? Let's bring back Cotton Mather? What would make those morons happy? Bring back slavery? Outlaw literacy for women?
-
Paging Chris Dowd - Chris Dowd, please pick up a red courtesy telephone...
Whoa. Isn't this exactly what Chris Dowd was saying the other day? That when the shoe was on a Liberal's foot, as opposed to a Conservative's foot, the shoe wouldn't pinch at all.
Chris Dowd:
What I was commenting on- was how then- when Bush got elected- how "conservatives" suddenly stopped caring about police state tactics and how they generally became party line flunkies not interested in truth or even reality.
[snip...]
My guess- is that you will be the first to start defending a Dem President when he or she starts "rendering" people to foreign countries to be tortured. Since they will be "right wingers" or Muslims (who are Patriarchal womyn and gay haters) I doubt it will be much of a problem for you to switch gears and be a police state enabler while one of "yours" is in power.
The topic has changed, but the behavior of the supporters is the same. Has no one in the DLC read Whistling Past Dixie by Thomas Schaller? This campaign tactic by Obama is incredibly disappointing. If it was wrong for Huckabee, it's wrong for Obama, too. If it's not inappropriate for Obama, Huckabee's criticism was undeserved.
-
Obama would be better off...
doing a photoshoot with some pork spareribs and a mug of beer.
-
Asked and Answered
Glenn,
You ask: "What's the difference (between Huckabee and Obama)?"
Your answer comes in four parts.
(1) "(T)o counter the false whispering campaign increasingly being circulated in South Carolina (by whom, we should find out) that Obama is a Muslim."
(2) "Given how much religion has been infused into our politics, especially our Republican politics, I didn't really think that anything Huckabee was doing was particularly unusual."
(3) "Clearly, there are major differences between Huckabee's views on the role of religion in government and Obama's, as evidenced most recently by Huckabee's call for the Constitution to be amended to comport with God's will on abortion and homosexuality. Obama has no such positions..."
(4) "(and I agree with both Pam Spaulding and Andrew Sullivan that Obama's speech yesterday at Ebenezer Baptist Church was courageous and, in several important respects, admirable in the extreme)."
-
Revelation!
Huck is a Christianist. Obama isn't -- so far as we know.
The mention of religious affiliation and/or calling -- even in detail -- should hardly be reason to disqualify a candidate from serious consideration.
It is when the candidate's religious appeal is made primarily on behalf of the Dominion to Come that people of faith and reason become somewhat ... erm... concerned.
But I've never had a problem with a candidate's profession of faith. It's what they do -- or intend to do -- with it that matters, eh?
If people are continuing to spread false rumors about Obama's religion, he needs to slap it down, because it is false. On the other hand, why isn't there a whisper campaign in SC describing Huck's Dominionist and Theocratic beliefs and intentions? South Carolina. Lee Atwater. Come on, people, smear your opponent with the truth. Play rough.
-
responding to e-mail not only goal
Certainly Obama's need to respond to the "secret muslim" smear campaign is one good reason to make sure he wraps himself in the church. A greater benefit from these ads though is the utilization of black churches to stimulate black voters and turnout. For blacks (especially I suspect in S.C.) the church is the biggest unifying force in the community. The black churches have a long and generally distinguished history of political action back to the fights for civil rights. Of course Obama wants to tap into this for the same reason the Clintons have always made it a point to appear in black churches. These ads aren't just designed to appeal to christians but to blacks (of any religious view) by conecting himself with the legacy of the civil rights movement. Even black voters who are not religious or are from "other" religions will, he hopes, have a positive reaction to the association. Whether many black churches get a free pass on their own extreme and intolerant views on many issues is another question...