McCain's Failed Spiritual Endorsements

The Episcopalian McCain--who last year pronounced himself a Baptist--does not seem too comfortable in that mode of modern religious expression known as Evangelicalism. Religiously speaking, the Maverick is the strong and silent type. He lacks Hagee and Parsley’s give-it-up-my-brothers-and-sisters-for-Christ-Jesus! exuberance.

This brings us to the question of familiarity. A Spiritual Endorser need not know very much about the candidate s/he champions (and vise versa as the McCain campaign has taught us). The sum total of their relation might comprise a few face-to-face meetings (with staff in tow) at the D.C. Hilton.

Hagee did not bring McCain to Jesus. He did not provide him spiritual sustenance across decades. He never prayed with him in a foxhole. Quite frankly, he didn’t seem to know much about the Senator from Arizona at all.

But he sure did like McCain’s views on “family issues.” This brings us to the final distinction: while the Mentor loves the candidate, the Endorser loves the candidate’s politics. In return for this admiration (and perhaps a direct line to the White House) the Endorser delivers a particular religious constituency. It’s a contract job.

In any case, this week’s lesson is: Mamas, don’t let your babies become Spiritual Endorsers! McCain abruptly jettisoned Hagee and Parsley. Moving from least to most likely, here are five reasons explaining why he may have done so:

Senator McCain was afflicted by pangs of conscience: After a long walk in the foothills of Arizona John McCain thought long and hard about what these men had said about Catholics, Jews and Muslims and concluded it was wrong. Just plain wrong.

The Catholic vote was threatened: Plausible. But even after Hagee’s views were publicized McCain’s support among this constituency was strong . And when the somewhat influential Catholic League forgave him it looked like McCain was in the clear. On the other hand, in the past few weeks Obama has begun to edge him out among these voters.

The Jewish vote was threatened: Let there be no doubt, Republican strategists see Judaism as a battleground faith in 2008. Recalling, with fondness no doubt, the 39% that Ronald Reagan sluiced off in 1980, perhaps the McCain people concluded that Hagee’s disquisitions on the Holocaust were a liability.

These guys weren’t even paying dividends among Evangelicals: Maybe a Jerry Falwell or a Pat Robertson or a James Dobson (who spent the better part of 2007 telling anyone who would listen that he would not endorse McCain under any circumstances) would be worth the trouble. But the truth is that Hagee and Parsley were not household names, let alone kingmakers, in an increasingly fractured and restless Conservative Christendom.

There has been an outbreak of pastoral equivalence: In the past few weeks I have detected in the media a mentality that goes something like this: “McCain’s got Hagee and Parsley. Obama’s got Wright. So let’s call it even and move on to more substantive matters.” In other words, the possibility exists that the McCain campaign will not be able to reap the munificent electoral bounty offered by Jeremiah Wright. The Senator anticipated this difficulty when explaining his decision: “But let me also be clear, Reverend Hagee was not and is not my pastor or spiritual adviser, and I did not attend his church for twenty years.”

McCain is certainly correct and the distinction he draws is relevant. But if Senator Obama’s handlers are wily, they should have no difficulty blurring the already fuzzy lines between a Mentor and an Endorser.

(For more information about religion and the candidates check out Faith 2008 by the Berkley Center for Religion, Peace & World Affairs.)