Barack Obama is doing a wonderful job of
courting the respect and even the support of evangelicals and conservative Catholics.
He has also not hesitated to make unheard of promises to another key voting
bloc: pro-Israel Jews.
Along with ads targeting evangelicals made
possible by the enormous amount of money he is raising to finance his campaign,
there is no doubt that there are numerous signs that Obama means to be elected
President this November with the support of a broad cross-section of the
American public. Is it possible for one of the most liberal politicians on the
national scene today to build an alliance which stretches far beyond the confines
his voting record might suggest?
It certainly is. That’s what politics is all
about. Here is a partial list of the Christian leaders he met privately with on
Tuesday:
(1)
Rich
Cizik, vice president for governmental affairs of the National Association of
Evangelicals (NAE), an umbrella organization for evangelical churches and
ministries
(2)
Evangelical
author Max Lucado of San Antonio
(3)
Paul
Corts, current president of the Council of Christian Colleges and Universities
(CCCU), a consortium of evangelical institutions of higher learning; Corts was an
assistant attorney general in George W. Bush’s first term
(4)
Rev. Luis
Cortes of Esperanza USA, another evangelical, representing about 10,000 Hispanic
churches and community groups
(5)
Rev.
Franklin Graham, son of Rev. Billy Graham
(6)
Bishop
T.D. Jakes, a prominent black evangelical, author, and pastor of a Dallas megachurch
(7)
Cameron
Strang, founder of Relevant Media, the publisher of the hip Christian magazine
and related web site Relevant, “covering God, Life and Progressive
Culture”
(8)
Conservative
Catholic constitutional lawyer Doug Kmiec, an abortion opponent who worked in the Reagan and Bush I
administrations, was denied Communion in April at a Mass for Catholic business
people because he endorsed Obama
(9)
Rev. Stephen
Thurston, head of the National Baptist Convention of America, a historically
black denomination, pastor of the New Covenant Missionary Baptist Church on
Chicago's South Side
(10)
Rev. T.
Dewitt Smith, president of the Progressive National Baptist Convention, the
denomination to which the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. belonged
(11)
Bishop
Phillip Robert Cousin Sr., an African Methodist Episcopal (A.M.E.) clergyman
and former NAACP board member
Joshua Dubois, the Obama campaign's director of faith outreach, said the meeting included "prominent evangelicals and other faith leaders" who "discussed policy issues and came together in conversation and prayer."
Cizik said the issues
discussed Tuesday included "protecting the traditional family, same-sex
marriage, gay rights, religious freedom, genocide, poverty and hunger in
America, and how we might even improve America's standing in the world."
He said he told Obama:
"Religious Americans want to know why is it you love this country and what
it stands for and how we can make it better."
Cizik said participants agreed not to give specifics of Obama's responses to their questions, but that "there was nothing softball about this meeting and that's the way he said he wanted it."
Sources: wire services
Based on voting record in the US Senate Obama is middle of the pack amongst Democrats when voting on conservative issues:
http://www.electoral-vote.com/evp2008/Pres/Maps/Apr14.html
and one of the least liberal democratic senators when voting on liberal issues:
http://www.electoral-vote.com/evp2008/Comparison/Maps/Apr09.html
Posted by: Owen | June 13, 2008 at 04:22 PM
That's interesting, Owen, but something doesn't add up.
NARAL and Planned Parenthood give Barack a perfect score of 100.
Pro-lifers give him a perfect score of 0.
The National Taxpayers Union gave him a vote of F in 2007. Citizens for Tax Justice gave him a vote of 100 in 2005-2006.
I'm beginning to see a pattern here.
Posted by: JohnFH | June 13, 2008 at 05:05 PM
yeah, its always hard to parse numbers in a chart like that. It basically comes down to certain issues. Which is why people can say McCain is moderate or conservative, depends on the issue.
Posted by: Owen | June 13, 2008 at 11:02 PM
What?! Dr. Dobson wasn't there?
Posted by: James Pate | June 14, 2008 at 11:07 AM