Obama as Obiwan

Obama asks S.C. black voters to have faith

By: Jeanne Cummings
Jan 12, 2008 08:08 AM EST

Obama’s campaign is unique among Democrats in that it has adopted faith as an organizing tool.

OBAMA ... he is the most Christian candidate this year. I believe this is an intentional effort to pull the Repican part apart.

CHARLESTON, S.C. — One of the most striking aspects of Barack Obama's pitch in the Palmetto State, where roughly half the Democratic voters are black, is that it isn’t dominated by the issue of race. It’s about faith.

Through the psalms and verses of the Bible, Obama is seeking to connect with South Carolinians at a deeper place than the color of their skin, a place where belief in modern miracles may linger, including the election of the first African-American president.Obama Christ, Superstar?

13 Jan 2008 02:47 pm

Obamajeffhaynesafp

Publius worries about and yet cannot resist this phenomenon:

Obama seems to be filling a spiritual void that many modern secular progressives (like all humans) tend to develop. Whether the enthusiasm stems from youth’s susceptibility to romantic idealism, or instead from the longing caused by the slow lonely grind of professional life, something is causing these people to see in Obama something more than politics. They’re seeing – and feeling – something higher.

There is nothing wrong with seeing in a future president a public discourse that could uplift us and perhaps mitigate the unnecessarily magnified ideological positions. But if a candidate is mere uplift, it's a worry. I don't think that's what Obama is. He has detailed proposals on healthcare, climate change, taxes, and a clear position on withdrawing from Iraq as swiftly as prudently possible. But any candidate can get some policy wonks to fill in the blanks. The ability to execute such policies, to bring people together to debate and pass them, is what a president needs to have. On the critical question of the war, only McCain and Obama will be able to execute different strategies and still reach to those beyond their core support. I think that matters. I think having a capacity to transcend pure partisanship in wartime is a good thing.