President-elect Obama’s invitation to Rick Warren to deliver his inaugural prayer is not about inclusiveness, or a new kind of politics. It is about old-school political war, and it is designed to disassemble the Republican Party.Warren, the author of the evangelical masterpiece The Purpose Driven Life and pastor of the Saddleback megachurch, has predictable positions on homosexuality and abortion. His inaugural invocation has drawn equally predictable shrieks of dismay from voices on the left.
About one-quarter of the electorate are evangelical/born-again Christians. It is the most reliable part of the GOP coalition – even in 2008, 74% of evangelicals voted Republican.
Mr. Obama, whose skills as a politician dwarf the supposedly brilliant Bill Clinton, is intent on fracturing this evangelical base. His invitation of Rev. Warren is designed as a wedge, and he proposes to be the hammer.
This will not be the last time the Rev. Warren will be wheeled out for the cameras. But the only influence he will have in an Obama Administration will be if he supports something the Administration wishes to do anyway.
The invitation will not cost Mr. Obama any votes from the left – he is by the far the most liberal Democrat in decades, and the left has nowhere else to go. If he can shave even 10 points off the evangelical vote – about 3 million votes -- he will doom the GOP coalition.
And Mr. Obama is giving the next generation of evangelicals the cover of a respectable idea: that the GOP has neglected Jesus’ words in Matthew 25 about “the least of these.” These young people are listening. In 2004, only 16% of those young folks voted Democrat. This year, almost a third voted for Obama, and nearly a quarter of those under 45 joined them.
The howls on the left about Warren’s invocation are not troubling to Mr. Obama -- they are music to his ears, and he wants to crank it up. It’s time for the GOP to ramp up its “A” game – or resign itself to the fate of the Detroit Lions, who just finished a perfect season: all losses.
4 comments:
The point is well-made about Obama's intent. However, the only thing that will truly doom the GOP is precisely what they've been doing for the past few years...wasting all their time taking warmed-over stands on the same old issues. The basic precepts of conservatism can and do appeal to a wide swath of Americans. But the right has instead spent their time demonizing the left, and now they're being beaten at their own game by a younger, more articulate and energetic crowd.
Government has a legitimate role, but not all possible roles of government should be legitimized. Clear boundaries should be drawn about what's acceptable and we, as a society, are willing to pay for. More emphasis on this and less on the bedroom habits of others, at least in terms of the role of government, gives the right a fighting chance.
The fact is, the right tries to make the government into a parental figure on moral issues, and then criticizes the left for trying to do so on social issues. Seems to me that both should be forced to look elsewhere for their deliverance.
BINGO!
This is a terrific analysis of the politics Obama is playing. Since the Warren announcement, groups of young liberal "evangelicals" have been all over FoxNews and the Internet.
This "movement" is made up of people who think the government has the responsibility to care for the "least of these." The twisted contortion of this scripture to support candidates who eagerly support abortion, gay-unions, global warming, and a stronger Arab agenda against Israel are severely mistaken.
God tells His believers to care for the "least of these," not government to do it. If those in the "movement" would concentrate their personal efforts to assist the needy and leave government out of it, they could not only be obedient to God, but also secure and protect their liberties through reducing the size of government.
The invocation could be the start of the evangelical awakening. The lions den can produce good.
Rick Warren is a real problem. His watered-down gospel has been designed to appeal to postmodern "itching ears." His acceptance of Obama's invitation shows a lack of wisdom and discernment at the least, and full-blown apostacy at the worst.
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