Salon: "In Obama's eyes, the GOP can no longer claim ownership of all things evangelical"

[Anthony Soprano]

Please Note: Reading the full article requires Salon membership or watching an ad for a "Day Pass."

Left turn at Saddleback Church

Barack Obama received a warm welcome at an AIDS conference held by Rick "Purpose-Driven Life" Warren. But that doesn't mean evangelicals are ready to lay down their cross for Democrats.

By Tim Grieve

http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2006/12/02/obama/index_np.html

As he opened his remarks Friday at a World AIDS Day summit at Rick Warren's Saddleback Church, Republican Sen. Sam Brownback said he was feeling a little more "comfortable" than he did the last time he shared a stage with Barack Obama. "We were both addressing the NAACP," Brownback explained. "They were very polite to me… I think they kind of wondered, 'Who's this guy from Kansas?' And then Barack Obama follows, and they're going, 'OK, now we've got Elvis.'"

Figuring their joint appearance at an Orange County evangelical church finally put the shoe on the other foot, Brownback turned to Obama and said, "Welcome to my house." The audience of evangelicals howled with laughter. But when Obama had the chance to speak a few minutes later, he returned to what Brownback had said: "There is one thing I've got to say, Sam: This is my house, too. This is God's house."

Everyone laughed again -- neither Brownback's opening nor Obama's comeback were offered with the rancor that a cold retelling of them probably suggests -- but the point had been made anyway. In Obama's eyes, at least, the Republican Party can no longer claim ownership of all things evangelical.

The bad news for the GOP: Rick Warren apparently agrees.

[hippiechick]

1. Oh great, so the Dems are going to run Obama to court the Church Vote?

:( What about the other 85% of the center/left voters and what we want, and believe in?

[beachmom]

3. To be fair, there ARE Churchy people who either are swing voters

or lean left. I'm not talking about the hardcore types of evangelicals, but just about church going Christians in general.

Good for Obama, if he was able to go into supposedly "hostile territory" and make a few friends. That's good for our party.

[PaDem]

7. agreed..........

I'm an Evangelical Christian, though I am pretty far to the left in my political views. My parents are "very Evangelical" but typically vote for Dems. Neither one will vote for Hillary under any circumstance. They both are intrigued by Obama and I think would get behind him solidly. There are many others in the same boat. Their is definitely a slice of the Evangelical vote that can be had without compromising the progressive platform. It's about framing, presentation and credibility. Obama is trying to establish credibility with those "swing Evangelicals", credibililty that Hillary will never have with them. This small sliver may represent 5% or less of the Evangelical community, but that translates into 1-2 % pts in a national election.

[PVnRT]

4. Is he saying something that betrays the principles of the left?

(at least, any more than any of the other potential candidates?)

Or is it just because he *gasp* didn't preach to the choir and actually tried engaging the other side??

[madrchsod]

2. i don`t think the evangelicals

were ever going to "lay down their crosses" for the democrats. yet not to share common ground is foolish for them and for us.

[skipos]

5. We won in 06 thanks in part to independents

Repubs still mostly voted for repubs, dems mostly for dems, but independents broke for Dems more than usual. Also, evangelicals voted for dems more than usual too. All we need to do is swing a few, and we can do it without sacrificing principles.

[applegrove]

6. The coalition who gave us labour laws, the New Deal & Civil Rights

was a mixed liberal and religious one. We need to get back to that. We cannot allow the GOP's wedge to work. Some of those evangelicans walk the walk and truly want a fight on poverty and equality. Some of them used to call themselves Liberal. Not all of them, but some. The walking the walkers.

And brain scans show that some people are born religious. That is how they are born. So to dismiss such a large group of human beings is inhuman. People are they way they are. We need a big tent. Some evangelicals belong with the Democrats.