Those who have been reading my sputterings of amazement these last weeks will know that I am becoming obsessive-compulsive over Barack Obama's outreach to the American Evangelical community. Talk about driving a truck through the front wall of a rough bar in a bad part of town where they don't much like his kind, this is it. And while I find a lot about that effort that has me hyperventilating, you've got to admire the raw nerve involved in it.
Obama has a couple of big problems:
1. He is black, or at least cafe au lait in color
2. The Republicans have owned the Southern race-conscious voters since 1968
3. Bush has bribed the heck out of the fundies, to his shame and theirs
4. 20% of Amurikans think Obama is secretly a Muslim
So what could he do to have not a triple-run homer, but a grand slam?
Steal a big chunk of the "values voters" from the GOP. A lot of the GOP stalwarts don't really trust McCain. They aren't sure whether he is an Episcopalian or a Baptist (and seemingly neither is he) and they aren't sure he even goes to church. They are increasingly catching on to the idea that Obama is kinda evangelical in an odd way, certainly a lot closer to their core beliefs than McCain is. And then Damned if the guy who performed the marriage for Jenna Bush came out and endorsed Obama! Say what?? Heads exploded across America. Surely if Obama was a secret Muzzie, the Bush pastor would know, right? So if he thinks they are okay, then... wow, this is getting confusing. And now Obama wants to EXPAND the "faith-based" program? Whew, this is really strange. McCain doesn't even seem to know what it is, or whether he likes it or not. This is really, really strange.
But in the end, while they dither about what KIND of a Christian Obama is, they are forced to forget and distrust those who claim he is a Muslim. And if that happens, and younger evangelicals vote in decent numbers for Obama, then he will win the election. And he who laughs in the Oval Office laughs best.
Arthur
Obama has a couple of big problems:
1. He is black, or at least cafe au lait in color
2. The Republicans have owned the Southern race-conscious voters since 1968
3. Bush has bribed the heck out of the fundies, to his shame and theirs
4. 20% of Amurikans think Obama is secretly a Muslim
So what could he do to have not a triple-run homer, but a grand slam?
Steal a big chunk of the "values voters" from the GOP. A lot of the GOP stalwarts don't really trust McCain. They aren't sure whether he is an Episcopalian or a Baptist (and seemingly neither is he) and they aren't sure he even goes to church. They are increasingly catching on to the idea that Obama is kinda evangelical in an odd way, certainly a lot closer to their core beliefs than McCain is. And then Damned if the guy who performed the marriage for Jenna Bush came out and endorsed Obama! Say what?? Heads exploded across America. Surely if Obama was a secret Muzzie, the Bush pastor would know, right? So if he thinks they are okay, then... wow, this is getting confusing. And now Obama wants to EXPAND the "faith-based" program? Whew, this is really strange. McCain doesn't even seem to know what it is, or whether he likes it or not. This is really, really strange.
But in the end, while they dither about what KIND of a Christian Obama is, they are forced to forget and distrust those who claim he is a Muslim. And if that happens, and younger evangelicals vote in decent numbers for Obama, then he will win the election. And he who laughs in the Oval Office laughs best.
Arthur
No comments:
Post a Comment