Again...my feelings about Barack Obama have nothing to do...

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Let me begin with what I hope is a credibility enhancer: For daring to write a book on the faith of Hillary Clinton, I was questioned by fellow conservatives, especially for calling Mrs. Clinton a "lifelong, committed Christian." In the final chapter of that book, I included a brief section on the faith of Barack Obama, where, taking him at his word�based on a major June 2006 speech on his faith�I felt confident in reporting, "Obama is a Christian."

I'm not disputing that here. Since then, however, I've taken a careful look at Obama's faith, and there are quite a few things that stand out as historically extremely unusual, and in some cases unprecedented for a potential president. They are worth knowing, especially given the secular media's adoration of the man.

Indeed, journalists are so worshipful of Obama that they are unfazed by his two decades of membership in the church of a ranting, blasphemous preacher who mocked everything from Bill Clinton to America itself�and who married Obama, baptized his children, and whom Obama considers a mentor and the inspiration for the title of his best-selling book. That double standard has struck even the likes of atheist Christopher Hitchens. After eight years of wailing and gnashing of teeth over a Christian Republican president, secular liberals have undergone a Saul-like conversion.

On rare occasions, however, the press has offered constructive analysis of Obama's faith. The most revealing look remains a glowing profile in Newsweek a couple of months ago. The Newsweek offering was remarkably one-sided, even venturing into evangelical phraseology, the shared-language-of-believers style characteristic of Religious Right publications. I counted ten examples of phrases like, "He found Christ," "accept Christ," "Obama went to Jesus."

Nonetheless, even in this unusually un-critical article, much can be mined about Obama's faith. Most salient is this inescapable conclusion: More than any presidential nominee this close to the White House, Barack Obama's faith is a patchwork of divergent beliefs, philosophies, and influences, from what Newsweek called a "Christian-turned-secular mother"�her own views a product of "two lapsed Christian" parents and a Bill Moyers book�to a "Muslim-turned-atheist African father" to a stepfather with a "unique brand of Islam."

As for Obama's personal path, Newsweek noted how Obama, in his younger years, enjoyed, on one hand, Augustine, and then Nietzsche and Graham Greene. Obama hopped and groped his way through Islam, Buddhism, Catholicism, Protestantism, asceticism, and eventually settled at the political church of the Reverend Jeremiah Wright.

Most interesting is what Newsweek revealed about Obama and his current family: His wife, Michelle, "also didn't go to church regularly as a child." Neither really began regular attendance until they were married. And only then, their choice was Reverend Wright. On that, Newsweek reported approvingly: "The cross under which Obama went to Jesus was at the controversial Trinity United Church of Christ. It was a good fit."

The couple, writes Newsweek, attended "fairly often�two or three times a month." That changed, becoming less frequent, with the birth of their first child. Normally, the arrival of children is the blessed event that drags young couples to church�the Bushes, the Clintons. For the Obamas, however, the hassle of getting the baby out of the house for a packed service was an obstacle. "So," explained Barack, "that would cut back our involvement."

The Obama girls have never attended Sunday school�a definite contrast with most White House children. Even wayward president's kids like Ron Reagan, a proud atheist, was taken to church every Sunday. Obama explains of his daughters' religious education: "I'm a big believer in a faith that is not imposed but taps into what's already there, their curiosity of spirit."

Once Obama ran for the U.S. Senate, he skipped church for months at a time. Now that he publicly parted ways with Reverend Wright, reports Newsweek with a gentle wink, "Obama is a little spiritually rootless again." Newsweek neglected to mention that Obama often appeared in churches in 2007 for strictly political purposes�i.e., to campaign in houses of worship, a practice that launches liberals into fits of screaming rage when done by Republicans.

On the plus side, there are some discernible spiritual practices in Obama's life: family grace at mealtime, daily prayer, Obama "sometimes" reading the Bible in evenings, and inspirational emails zapped to the senator by his "religious outreach team." Yet, even with that nod to something of a religious routine, one senses that Obama is still trying to reconcile, as Newsweek described his early life, "his rational side with his yearning for transcendence."

After demonstrating at length that Obama's belief system is an amalgam, unorthodox, and undisciplined, Newsweek wrapped up with a shot at his detractors: "Some on the right say his particular brand of Christianity is a modern amalgam�unorthodox, undisciplined...."

One can see here another reason the secular left embraces Obama: His entire religious life, including the spiritual development of his family, is relativistic�an ever-probing quest, a realization of no single truth. The left likes this Democrat more than, say, a lifelong Baptist like Bill Clinton, a lifelong Roman Catholic like John Kerry, a lifelong Methodist like Hillary Clinton, a "born-again" southerner like Jimmy Carter. Here's a believer secular liberals can accept: a relativist in the most expansive form.

A President Obama would bring to the office the most unconventional religious portfolio of any president in a long time, arguably the history of the American presidency.

But to get there, the freshman senator hopes to win just enough of those moral-religious "values voters" who twice made the difference for George W. Bush. Can Barack Obama do that?

Can Obama win the 'values voter'?
In 2000 and 2004, it was the churchgoing moral-religious "values voters" that made the difference for George W. Bush. Barack Obama hopes to peel off just enough of those voters. What are his chances? From my vantage, Obama faces five primary obstacles:

First, Reverend Jeremiah Wright remains an albatross, even given the media's best efforts to avoid him. The ranting, raving, blaspheming political sermons by an uncorked, unhinged Wright�with the congregation loving every minute�remains a cruise missile at Obama's bid for moderate to conservative churchgoers. Obama was way too close to Wright to politically extricate himself.

Second�brace yourselves, liberals�a sizable number of Americans suspect Obama is lying about Islamic roots. A Newsweek poll in June found that 12 percent of voters are convinced Obama is a Muslim, and one-in-four believe he was raised a Muslim. Such thinking has intensified with Jerome Corsi's bestselling book and with research by Islam observers like Daniel Pipes�who, though he accepts that Obama is today a Christian, says Obama is "lying" when he denies he was never a Muslim. Additional oddities continue to surface, such as a YouTube video in which Moammar Kaddafi is said to describe Obama as a fellow Muslim.

When I recently shared this factor with some liberals, their faces visibly contorted and they began yelling at me. Nonetheless, perceptions matter. This issue might become statistically important in a close election.

Third, conservative Christians are offended by how the secular left has greeted Obama as a messianic figure. The hosannas during Obama's Europe trip were so over-the-top that London Times columnist Gerard Baker ridiculed the senator's visit as akin to Christ's entrance into Jerusalem. The BBC interviewed a worshipful German who described Obama as his "redeemer." Fox found another who exalted his "new messiah." To the question, "Who do you say that I am?" some Europeans made their choice as Obama swept into their presence.

Given the agnostic left's search for salvation in politics, this is not a surprise, especially in post-modern, de-Christianized Europe.

This has only gotten worse. No less than a U.S. congressman, Rep. Steve Cohen (D-TN), said on the House floor on September 10 that, "Barack Obama was a 'community organizer' like Jesus." (He then added, in reference to Governor Sarah Palin, that "Pontius Pilate was a governor.") And now there's YouTube video of Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan calling Obama "the Messiah."

This is backfiring on Obama among the values voters he is seeking. To them, this reverence by the secular left is intolerably hypocritical. Liberals went bonkers when a presidential candidate named George W. Bush merely cited Christ as his favorite philosopher. And now they can compare Obama to Christ?

Fourth, "values voters" are skeptical of this appeal to faith by the Democratic nominee. There has been a well-orchestrated, openly admitted campaign, begun just days after the 2004 vote, especially by Hillary Clinton, Howard Dean, Nancy Pelosi, and Harry Reid, to get Democrats talking faith as much as possible. Actual Democratic Party working groups and colloquia have been established, employing the Christian left's language of "social justice."

Obama himself picked this up early on. In a June 2006 address to the Call to Renewal convention, Obama appealed to religious voters. He recalled how in his 2004 Senate race, his support of abortion rankled his opponent. Obama protested, arguing there were policy issues that proved his Christianity�issues like supporting daycare subsidies and the estate tax.

Obama can protest all he wants, but values voters consider legislation mandating medical care for abortion survivors more important than legislation mandating estate taxes for the wealthy.

Speaking of which, and fifth, abortion is beyond doubt the overwhelming obstacle for Obama. He is the most extremist pro-choicer ever to get this close to the presidency. His stand-alone votes against bills protecting newborn babies who survive abortions were horrible. He calls abortion a "safety net" and vowed to Planned Parenthood in July 2007 that the "first thing" he would do as president is sign the Freedom of Choice Act, which would nationalize abortion policy and overturn all the perfectly reasonable state-level restrictions on abortion by bipartisan legislatures throughout America. Then there are Obama's revealing statements on the stump�such as how he would hate to see his daughters get pregnant out-of-wedlock and "punished with a baby."

Secular liberals cannot begin to imagine the opposition to Obama strictly on abortion. I've received an email several times, titled, "10 Reasons Christians Shouldn't Vote for Obama." Among the ten, seven are on abortion.

The unprecedented outcry from the religious community is further evidence. The reaction of the Catholic bishops is extraordinary. I've never witnessed them so exercised and committed to leading the flock, and doing so carefully and eloquently, especially among traditional Catholics who still think their party is run by Harry Truman and Jack Kennedy, and literally don't even know Obama is pro-choice.

A poll last week by Investor's Business Daily showed a swing of 20 points for John McCain among Catholics, from an 11-point deficit to a 9-point lead. If McCain wins Catholics, he wins the election.

It all adds up to the reality that Barack Obama will have difficulty picking up values voters. His hope that they are not energized by McCain has dissipated with the Sarah Palin pick and the steady emergence of information on his abortion fanaticism.

A summer Pew poll showed McCain leading Obama among evangelicals by 61 to 25 percent, comparable to the margin enjoyed by Bush over AL Gore in 2000. More recently, the respected scholar Dr. John Green released a study finding that evangelicals favor McCain 57.2 percent to 19.9 percent, very similar to Bush's 60.4 percent to 19.6 percent over John Kerry at the same point in 2004.

It remains to be seen where, exactly, this will finish next Tuesday. As in 2000 and 2004, however, the values voters could make the difference.

and I am very pleased to meet you.

Oh, and this is my spouse, America. Please pay her no mind, she is a complete embarrassment to me. Ours was an arranged marriage � a family thing � and now I�m stuck with her.

Although I am sure you have already been offended by them, let me enumerate some of her many faults:

1. She is fluent in only one language. Sure, me too, but the point is that I could learn a second language if I wanted to. I have just been too busy organizing communities and running for public office. On the other hand, what else does she have to do with her time?

2. America eats too much.

3. America keeps her room too warm. I, however, am from Hawaii and like my office hot enough to grow orchids. Besides, I look great in shirt sleeves.

4. America drives her car too much, and it�s the wrong kind of car.

5. I want her to take the bus, but she refuses. Me? No, I�ve been too involved in my work to take time to do that. Also I have people to drive me around.

6. America buys the wrong type of light bulbs. Her TV is too big.

7. Have you seen her wardrobe? What am I saying? Don�t look!

8. I hate her friends and relatives. I�d much rather hang out with you guys.

9. Her interests do not interest me. They�re low-class and boring.

10. Her friends all mostly have jobs and work pretty hard. Many of them hold jobs I consider menial and yet object when those jobs are sent overseas. What�s up with that? They don�t seem impressed by me. She has a couple of disabled friends who can�t work and she voluntarily supports them. I prefer to be admired by incompetent people I can �help� but she and her friends won't give me money for these folks. We�ll see about that. Since when did selfishness become a virtue?

11. America has this weird idea that if our bank account is low, we should stop spending money. What�s up with that?

12. America would do just about anything to help her friends, both here and overseas. She will stand up for them and she will voluntarily send them her own money. Voluntarily? If everybody had the right to decide that would be chaos! Somebody needs to be in charge. (Since I don�t much like my wife or her family and friends, no skin off my nose if they have a problem. Let them work it out on their own.)

So anyhow, I do apologize for bringing America to the party. Did I mention that it was an arranged marriage? The best I can do at this point is try to give her the benefit of my superior intellect, my deeper understanding of geopolitics, economics and the environment, my fabulous taste in clothing and just hope that I can make her less uncomfortable for all of you people to be around. Until I get her shaped up, please pay her no mind and accept my apologies.....

Nice place you�ve got here!

I agree that this is a huge issue. We have the technology to be virtually independent energy wise, but too many crooked politicians have too much money invested in the oil companies and have no interest in seeing alternative energy sources take away any of their profit. That, in my opinion, is a huge source of our problem. Below I will post a portion of what Obama plans to do about the energy crisis (from his website - barackobama.com). He has a much more detailed plan listed on his website. I'm posting a link if anyone would like to read more.

"Barack Obama believes we have a moral, environmental, economic, and security imperative to address our dependence on foreign oil and tackle climate change in a serious, sustainable manner.

Obama lists his favorite music as Miles Davis, John Coltrane, Bob Dylan, Stevie Wonder, Johann Sebastian Bach (cello suites), and The Fugees.

Q: How many Obamunists does it take to change a light bulb?
A: None. It's enough to hope that it gets changed.

I'm waiting to be called a racist. I'm sure somewhere in that those jokes, some Obamunist will find racism.

Well, I don't know about any others, but to me that is a lot of money (quadruple what I'm used to making) and I don't feel the program's basic intent was to give financial help to people in that income bracket, the intent was to help the minimum wage earners who would not be able to afford insurance AT ALL even if it were offered through their employers. If they set the cap that high, why bother to have a cap at all?

When I lived in Michigan I believe they had a similar program that was not based on income at all, but based on whether the parents were working or not. It had been noticed that some people felt justified staying on welfare because they couldn't insure their children if they were working at minimum wage, so this was an incentive to get them to work. It was very cheap (like $5 or $10 a month per child); at the time I had insurance through my employer and didn't utilize it, as I assumed it was mainly for minimum wage earners/those whose employers didn't offer any insurance. Another reason I didn't utilize it was I assumed the coverage might be substandard to what I had, and less providers might be available that would take it. Michiganders - correct me if I'm wrong about this program.

I find it amazing that some people on this board who are making such an issue of the Obama birth certificate nonissue on "Constitutional" grounds don't seem to care what Bush has done (and is continuing to do, even in his supposed last days in office) to this country.

I was pretty ambivalent about Bush when he was first (s)elected. Quite frankly, Gore didn't excite me that much, either, and I was disappointed that in a country of a quarter of a billion people (at the time), these were the only TWO people we could find to run for President.

However, when Bush stood in that rubble with that megaphone, I developed huge respect for him and felt as if I was part of HIS America.

It was HIS very own actions that caused that respect to crumble, bit by bit, until I despised him and his "base," the same "base" on Wall Street that continues to rob us all to this very day.

He referred to the Constitution as a (expletive deleted) piece of paper, and his actions have proved his contempt for it. (Isn't it telling that I can't even copy his entire statement here because it's considered too vulgar??!!)

I've never felt such distrust for my government until the last eight years. I voted for Obama and will, like you, continue to trust him UNTIL he gives me a reason not to, and then I will be all over him (like you), but my days of just blanketly assuming my President is on the side of America and Americans are long gone.

I actually see both sides. I don't like the idea of government telling businesses what they can and can't do because that is scary to let the government have so much control. However, if you are getting government money, government should have a say in where that money goes. This is a tough one for me. Like I said, I can see both sides.

I know...the sky is falling....someone actually seeing things from both sides. What are the chances?

However, I just don't share your views about this administration. I don't think trying to increase this country's intelligence and making the CIA and FBI better networking departments a controversial issue. When asked the question what American has the Patriot Act violated the dems are strangely quiet. They just continue to insist that Bush has done something wrong by increasing the intelligence level through wiretaps that every other American president was okayed to do.

I just don't understand congressmen and women standing up there having a hissy over Bush wire taps knowing, KNOWING, that the 4th plane on 9/11 was bound for an in session capital building. To me the Dems are BLINDED by partisan politcs. It frankly borders on sociopathic..

Bush has done nothing to to hurt Americans but only to protect them. Frankly, I'm glad he's got the guts to do what it takes to keep America safe. I don't know what *9/11 perps* you are talking about, but I don't think anyone has gone free. I really don't know why in the heck you care about terrorists rotting in jail in the first place. They are not American citizens and have none of the rights an American has. If the military was allowed to do what it was supposed to do and try them they would be dispensed with, but throwing them in the American legal system only condemed them to the piss poor, liberally manged American judicial system---who would much rather have a T.V. celebrity trial with all the trimmings than actually get down to work to putting some of the psychos and thugs behind bars or better yet....executing some the slime who prey on children and the innocent.

While I will never convince you to support this president you need to see things for what they really are. What is going to take for some of you to see that the president is not the problem but terrorism and partisan politics is? I guess it may take a much broader hit than 9/11. I pray it doesn't happen, but if you and the dems don't wake up and smell the coffee I'm afraid I could happen again.

I lost my father to emphysema so this subject is very touchy to me. I HATE cigarettes with a passion. On one side, I think it is great that they are going to control what tobacco companies put in their cigarettes. My mom and I have said for years that all the crap they put in tobacco is just ridiculous. Surely there is a way they can "clean up" their cigarettes so to speak. I can't help but wonder how many years my dad lost in his life due to his cigarette smoking. I remember vividly how many times he tried to quit and just couldn't do it. The man literally smoked until one day he couldn't breathe and my mom called 911. My dad was rushed to the hospital. He had started to turn bluish gray. He lived 4 days after that. He never came home and that was 2 years ago.

However, I agree that...what is next...alcohol....fast food...etc. There are a lot of alcohol related illnesses and there are also a lot of illnesses related to being overweight. Then we have the people on illegal drugs, etc. I'm tired of government involvement in every little thing and yet at the same time I can't be unhappy with this whole tobacco thing. Call me a hypocrit if you will, but cigarettes have cost me 2 grandpas, 1 uncle, and a dad. I'd be happy if cigarettes were gone totally but that is just me.

I've never walked in their boots, and I can't imagine what it must be like to wonder if every single next step you take might be your last, especially if a soldier is completely worn out, physically, mentally and emotionally because he or she is forced to do multiple tours.

I can't imagine what it might be like to see one or more of your buddies killed by a group of people who don't abide by the rules of war. I can't imagine how long I'd be in a position like that before I would simply snap and go beserk.

These young people must be stretched beyond any human limit, and although I don't condone it or agree with it, at the same time, there's no way in my heart that I can condemn them.

The military can punish them all they want. But if these young Iraqi War soldiers are anything like the Vietnam War veterans I personally know, I can promise you that there is no prison more painful and punitive than their own personal prisons that their minds, hearts, bodies and souls inhabit.

We don't know for sure that these soldiers weren't following orders. They have a commander-in-chief who favors torture, so anything is possible. Deep in my heart, I feel these soldiers are just being used scapegoats to protect those in the highest of command who gave the orders they followed.

I constantly condemn this war and the lies and liars that led to it, but I find it impossible to feel any ill feelings towards these soldiers for actions that may very well have been orders they were obeying from higher-ups. I also can't condemn them if they just *snapped.* A human being can only take so much, and I believe these poor soldiers have been stretched way beyond what most humans could endure.