Obama gaffe undermines Dem outreach
The furor surrounding Barack Obama's comments about "bitter" small-town
voters and their faith clouds an emerging story line that stood to benefit
the eventual Democratic nominee at Republican John McCain's expense.
That narrative was an ironic twist on longstanding partisan stereotypes: a
November election that figured to be between a Democrat who is comfortable
talking about faith and a Republican who is not.
But the Illinois senator's controversial remarks about "bitter" small-town
Pennsylvanians who "cling" to religion and other cultural stances out of
economic despair - comments immediately characterized by New York Sen.
Hillary Rodham Clinton and McCain as condescending - have suddenly
reintroduced an unwelcome issue, undermining the progress made by
concerted
Democratic Party outreach to religious voters and reinvigorating criticism
that the effort to woo religious voters is more rhetoric than substance.
"The danger, frankly, is that Democrats will be perceived as
disingenuous,"
said Laura Olson, a Clemson University professor who focuses on politics
and
religion. "What I really would be concerned about there is that
Republicans
could really spin this and they could say Obama is a Marxist. That's what
Marx said [about religion]: It's the opiate of the m*****."
Democrats' newfound openness on faith began as an attempt to close the
party's
disadvantage with regular churchgoers. Democratic nominees have lost these
voters by double digits, with the exception of 1992, since Ronald Reagan
won
the presidency.
This so-called "God gap" consumed Democrats following the 2004
presidential
election, as George W. Bush won eight in 10 of those who voted on "moral
values" and the GOP advantage with weekly church attendees soared to more
than 20 percentage points.
That stark divide is at the root of Sunday's "Compassion Forum," which
comes
just nine days before the April 22 Pennsylvania primary, the second event
of
the Democratic primary season to feature a prominent discussion of the
role
of religion in politics.
"It is the culmination of three to three and a half years of effort and
focus, working with the party to reengage, reactivate the conversation
with
the whole country, with people of faith," said Burns Strider, who heads
religious outreach efforts for Clinton. "Our candidates are not just
desirous to talk about faith but they are people of faith."
The Obama campaign argues that the Illinois senator was merely saying that
"in our toughest times when Christians have our backs against the wall,
we're
commanded to hold fast to our faith," according to Joshua DuBois, Obama's
director of religious affairs.
Obama's comment came to light the same day he announced his Catholic
leader****p team, which ranges from the prominent Hispanic Catholic leader
Ron Cruz to Sen. Bob Casey of Pennsylvania.
"I never could have gotten a group like that to endorse [John F.] Kerry in
2004," said Mara Vanderslice, the Kerry campaign's director of religious
outreach in 2004.
But Obama's remarks overwhelmed the news of his Catholic outreach and
threatened to sidetrack the party's broader effort to make inroads with
religious voters.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi began a Democratic Faith Working Group in 2005,
led by Strider, precisely to counter perceptions that Democrats were
irreligious, intolerant or looked down on to people of faith - an
impression
held by even some Democrats. The Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life has
consistently found that fewer than half of Democrats believe their party
is
"friendly toward religion."
"Generally, over a generation now, the national party has been resistant
to
any discussion of religion. It's been an almost exclusively secular point
of
view about what you are allowed to talk about," Casey said.
"Voters make decisions about elections based on a lot of considerations
and
one is that they want to get a sense from a candidate of what they are all
about, and if someone refuses to talk about their faith, that becomes a
barrier to considering their stand on health care or Medicare," Casey
continued, noting that he has seen a sea change among Democrats.
Obama had been at the forefront of efforts to push Democrats to openly
explain how religion informs stances on issues from poverty to the
environment. In a much-lauded speech in the summer of 2006, Obama said
that,
"at best," Democrats "try to avoid the conversation about religious values
altogether, fearful of offending" and, "at worst, there are some liberals
who dismiss religion in the public square as inherently irrational or
intolerant."
When Obama burst onto the national scene with his 2004 Democratic National
Convention speech, it included the pointed line, "We wor****p an awesome
God
in the blue states."
But critics now argue that Obama's remarks have not only affirmed the
notion
of a "God gap" but also undermined his own past efforts to address the
situation.
Conservative Christian leaders have long been skeptical of Democrats
effort
to reach more religious voters. Many have argued that the Democratic
outreach ignores core issues, from abortion to same-*** marriage, with
some
contending that the party is attempting a bait-and-switch maneuver on
values
issues.
"All of this wind and fury about Democrats reaching out to religious
voters - obviously they are going to do better when they don't give
religion
the back of their hand or fake it, as Howard Dean was when he said Job was
his favorite book in the New Testament," said Richard Land, the former
director of the Southern Baptist Convention.
Land's reference to Dean's gaffe regarding the book of Job, which is part
of
the Old Testament, demonstrates the staying power of one poorly received
remark by a Democrat on religion.
"Until the Democratic Party can nominate someone other than a candidate
who
has never met an abortion he couldn't at least live with, they are going
to
have a very hard time win any segment the conservative evangelical or
Catholic community," Land continued, referencing Clinton and Obama's
opposition to a ban on some late-term abortions.
Some Democratic officeholders acknowledge that the party's stance on third
trimester abortion is an example of an issue that threatens to undercut
their outreach to regular churchgoers.
"Late-term abortion is a problem," Casey said, who opposes the rare
procedure. "I don't think there is any question that it's a fault line for
a
lot of people."
Land argues that McCain's opposition to abortion will help him draw a
contrast with the Democratic nominee. "His pro-life voting record speaks
louder than religious rhetoric," he said.
The likelihood that Bush will campaign on McCain's behalf to Christian
conservative groups, where he is still popular, might also compensate for
McCain's religious reticence and his rocky relation****p with social
conservatives.
McCain, an Episcopalian who attends a Baptist megachurch in Phoenix, has
been reluctant to speak openly of his faith, instead referring to his
patriotism in a manner similar to Bush's expressions of belief in Jesus
Christ.
"Reagan didn't talk much about his faith. But Reagan was a person who was
clearly committed to, for lack of better words, traditional American
values," Land said. "McCain's war record, his clear integrity and
character, go a long way."
That may be true, but McCain's unease with the subject also might mitigate
any lasting damage from Obama's remarks. Many Democrats believe that with
McCain as the GOP nominee, the ambitious prospect of narrowing the
religion
gap is within their grasp.
"It gives Democrats an op****tunity that wasn't there before," Vanderslice
said of McCain. "When you have a Republican candidate who does not appear
to
be as comfortable with the im****tance of faith in his own life as well as
well as the public square, it gives Democrats an opening."
--
"Why is Chelsea Clinton so ugly? Because her father is Janet Reno."
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