Had read something last week (and I’d link it if I could find it) about how Obama was reaching out to evangelicals on an unprecedented (for a Democrat) basis - not necessarily going and kowtowing to them, but at least listening - one on one, with leaders, looking them in the eye, and then saying I believe this.
The gist of what I’d read was that while Obama might not win over the evangelical vote this way, he might indeed quell the hosility of the evangelical right toward the democratic nominee - which could, if anything, lead to a lower turnout. And an Obama win.
Today we see Obama specifically courting the demographic, by saying he would expand Bush’s faith-based programs:
“Now, make no mistake, as someone who used to teach constitutional law, I believe deeply in the separation of church and state, but I don’t believe this partnership will endanger that idea - so long as we follow a few basic principles. First, if you get a federal grant, you can’t use that grant money to proselytize to the people you help and you can’t discriminate against them - or against the people you hire - on the basis of their religion. Second, federal dollars that go directly to churches, temples, and mosques can only be used on secular programs. And we’ll also ensure that taxpayer dollars only go to those programs that actually work.”
I have no problem with this, by the way. Alleviating poverty - helping people - is what faith-based organizations do best. So if they can do it better than the federal government - more efficiently (and as Obama says, that’s key) - why shouldn’t they be given the chance to do it, if in the long run that’ll save taxpayer dollars?
But while there’s a rationale behind this, this is also a pretty effective political maneuver. Notes the NYT:
Mark DeMoss, a public relations executive who represents Franklin Graham and other church leaders and conservative religious organizations, said recently that Mr. Obama could conceivably win as much as 40 percent of the evangelical vote.
That’s your death knell for McCain, right there.
