Yesterday, I implored Barack Obama to re-energize Progressive Evangelicals. He needs to convince them afresh that a Christian's political portfolio extends beyond opposition to abortion and gays. He needs to convince them that his policies better address their concerns about the environment, poverty, sexual trafficking, genocidal regimes and AIDS, than those of McCain. And he must convince them to spread this Gospel to their fence-sitting co-religionists
Today, I wish to stress that his campaign had better rethink its reluctance to get nasty in the domain of Faith and Values politicking. Obama, I think, tends to see this domain as some sort of sacred space, one in which laudable religious virtues should inform his behavior on the campaign trail. He appears to subscribe to an unwritten commandment (inscribed in no political Torah that I know of) stipulating that anything touching upon God or belief must remain strictly in the realm of the positive.
Think of him waiting months before disassociating himself from Reverend Wright. Think of him (belatedly) leaving Trinity United Church of Christ and expressing concern not for his own tarnished prospects, but for the well-being of the parishioners he left behind. Think of him walking into Rick Warren's megachurch unarmed without as much as one zinger or snarky aside about John McCain (or operative stationed outside the "cone of silence").
But most importantly think of him not responding in kind to John McCain's raucous "The One" ad. Why he didn't return fire within 24 hours is as much a mystery to me as his lawyerlike performance at Saddleback. But the lines of attack he could have exploited were plentiful and obvious.
To begin with, he could have reminded Conservative Evangelicals of their difficulties with McCain. How about running some video of the Maverick excoriating the "agents of intolerance" back in 2000? How about a radio ad rehearsing Dr. James Dobson's views on the Republican nominee? And if Obama got bored with softening up this segment of the GOP base, how about insinuating that McCain does not only know how many houses he owns, but whether he is an Episcopalian or a Baptist (Alternative strike: "John McCain--an Episcopalian 90% of the time")?
But Obama just won't go there. He has missed opportunities to defend himself against attacks on his religious image. Worse still, he has made the crucial error of permitting McCain to define McCain in his capacity as a Christian. And while this may indicate that Obama is a good and principled man, it also suggests that he and his team operate under false assumptions about the way the religion card is played in American politics.
For more information about religion and the candidates check out Faith 2008 by the Berkley Center for Religion, Peace & World Affairs.
Jacques Berlinerblau is the Rabbi Harold White Chair in Jewish Civilization in Georgetown's Walsh School of Foreign Service and senior advisor to the Center for Jewish Civilization, where he was director from 2006 to June 2020. Berlinerblau has published on a wide variety of issues ranging from the sociology of heresy and modern Jewish intellectuals to African-American and Jewish-American relations.
