This is particularly satisfying, after hearing Obama lecture the dems in 2004 about being better at “talking the talk” to evangelicals. Apparently he thought that empty rhetoric was all those simple-minded religious folk needed to hear. Whoops.
I think this works in Obama’s favor. His talk of reaching out to evangelicals is, I presume, sincere. But it does not, in any way, mean that he is expecting, or trying to win over the hard line Republican base. Of course they will strike out against him – because they sense that he may be successful. Success for Obama, means winning over moderate, not-hard-line evangelicals. I really doubt that he ever imagined winning over Physlis Schlafley. His strategy, no doubt, is to unite the Dems, win enthusiastic backing from Dem-leaning centrists, and make serious inroads into Rep-leaning centrists, including evangelicals. That he is already eliciting paniced reactions from the Republican base is a sign of his strength.
Wow, there are some real nuts in the discussion you linked to. Imagine confusing those who care about abortion from the pro-life end with the fringe dominionism that almost all evangelicals think is completely nuts! Sometimes I think these people must want to see things as if there’s this theocratic conspiracy. I don’t know how else they could so radically misinterpret the sociological phenomena.
As for Obama, it’s been clear all along that he’s just talking the talk. You hear him speak, and he sounds a lot like many black conservatives. Then you look at his voting record (which, in large part, must involve looking at his voting record in state legislature, because he’s got so little to go on in his Senate career). It turns out his views are really close to Dick Gephardt’s. As Chuck Schumer likes to say, the guy is way out of the mainstream, and unlike most of the people Schumer says that about in this case it’s really true. He just deceptively tries to make people think he’s really in the center.
November 28th, 2006 at 3:41 pm
This is particularly satisfying, after hearing Obama lecture the dems in 2004 about being better at “talking the talk” to evangelicals. Apparently he thought that empty rhetoric was all those simple-minded religious folk needed to hear. Whoops.
November 28th, 2006 at 4:31 pm
I think this works in Obama’s favor. His talk of reaching out to evangelicals is, I presume, sincere. But it does not, in any way, mean that he is expecting, or trying to win over the hard line Republican base. Of course they will strike out against him – because they sense that he may be successful. Success for Obama, means winning over moderate, not-hard-line evangelicals. I really doubt that he ever imagined winning over Physlis Schlafley. His strategy, no doubt, is to unite the Dems, win enthusiastic backing from Dem-leaning centrists, and make serious inroads into Rep-leaning centrists, including evangelicals. That he is already eliciting paniced reactions from the Republican base is a sign of his strength.
November 29th, 2006 at 9:50 am
Wow, there are some real nuts in the discussion you linked to. Imagine confusing those who care about abortion from the pro-life end with the fringe dominionism that almost all evangelicals think is completely nuts! Sometimes I think these people must want to see things as if there’s this theocratic conspiracy. I don’t know how else they could so radically misinterpret the sociological phenomena.
As for Obama, it’s been clear all along that he’s just talking the talk. You hear him speak, and he sounds a lot like many black conservatives. Then you look at his voting record (which, in large part, must involve looking at his voting record in state legislature, because he’s got so little to go on in his Senate career). It turns out his views are really close to Dick Gephardt’s. As Chuck Schumer likes to say, the guy is way out of the mainstream, and unlike most of the people Schumer says that about in this case it’s really true. He just deceptively tries to make people think he’s really in the center.
November 29th, 2006 at 9:56 am
This won’t stop Obama. He’ll just go pander to somebody else closer to his radical views.