A Moral Forum
For the first time since each became their respective party’s (presumptive) candidate, Senators John McCain and Barack Obama stood on the same stage Saturday evening, at the Saddleback Civil Forum on Presidency. The setting was the megachurch of evangelical pastor, Rick Warren, and the audience was made up of born-again Christians.
Each candidate was asked the same questions, separately (Senator Obama answered first – while Senator McCain waited in a sound-proof area). The questions touched on the personal faith, beliefs and shortcomings of each candidate – and the candidates’ moral view of America.
On the question of personal moral failures, Barack Obama cited his teenage use of drugs and alcohol, stemming from being “so obsessed with me and why I might be dissatisfied”; asked the same question, Senator McCain answered “my greatest moral failing, and I have been a very imperfect person, is the failure of my first marriage.”
The candidates also answered questions regarding: abortion; same sex marriage; and, Supreme Court nominations.
According to Mark Halperin (Time.com), both candidates “aced” the interview/forum.
You can watch the interviews on CNN.com and the broadcast will re-air tonight (8/17) on CNN at 8pm (EST).
I thought Obama gave better, more thoughful and nuanced answers but McCain gave better soundbites and hit the right “buzzwords” for the religious right, so they probably forgot all about how Obama clearly understood the Bible and mainstream Christian theology better and seemed far more Solomonic and just remember McCain was tortured and wants us to vote primarily on the basis of potential Supreme Court nominations. Frankly, I found McCain’s bellicosity about issues of international conflict and “defeating evil” kind of scary and quite un-Christlike. And as for his story about the Vietnamese guard drawing the cross in the dirt being an incident of “two Christians worshipping together” — I think it is more likely that it was a moment of tolerance and ecumenism that escapes the religious right’s understanding of that kind of moment and perhaps even his own, though it is apparently the first time he’s added that observation to the story, so maybe he’s just pandering.
Apparently that cross story isn’t just pandering — it might be plagiarism, too; even right wing media called him on this as long as 3 years ago. The article linked below details the late appearance and evolution of the story.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/mark-nickolas/did-mccain-steal-his-cros_b_119471.html
I have no doubt that Senator McCain found hope and courage during his captivity however he could – it’s possible that his “recollection” of that time has been adjusted/altered over the years.
It was an amazing forum – and testament to the climate of politics today – the young evangelical has become a “swing voter” – which until recently, would have been unheard of.