Obama's Strange Appeal To High Priests Of US Conservatism

[DeSwiss]

Obama's strange appeal to high priests of US conservatism

AFP
June 21, 2008

WASHINGTON (AFP) — They're called the Obamacons -- the conservative thinkers who are disgusted with the Republicans and are rallying to Democrat Barack Obama as the nation's economic and diplomatic savior. They are joining younger evangelical leaders who see more to their religious mission than slavish devotion to Republican social mores, and fiscal conservatives who reject the war-fueled spending of President George W. Bush.

"The Bush coalition is dissolving," pollster John Zogby told AFP. "We have polling showing one-fifth of conservatives supporting Obama," he said. It seems an unlikely alliance, as some of the star intellectual names who have long given philosophical sustenance to Republican rule clamber aboard Obama's bid for the White House. But thinkers such as Francis Fukuyama, Andrew Sullivan and Andrew Bacevich -- all vehemently opposed to the war in Iraq -- dislike Republican candidate John McCain and see something alluring in his Democratic rival.

Fukuyama, the conservative author of the post-Cold War treatise "The End of History and the Last Man," said on a visit to Sydney last month that the Republicans were a spent force intellectually. He told the Australian Broadcasting Corp. that many on the right of US politics believe "Obama probably has the greatest promise of delivering a different kind of politics" that breaks with decades of Republican orthodoxy.

Bacevich, professor of history and international relations at Boston University, believes that after eight years under Bush, the Republicans need to lose November's election to reinvent their thinking and policy platform. "For conservatives, Obama represents a sliver of hope. McCain represents none at all. The choice turns out to be an easy one," he wrote in The American Conservative magazine. Among conservative critics, there is often a strong streak of libertarianism that is offended by Bush's war in Iraq, his curbing of constitutional freedoms in the "war on terror" and his swollen budget deficits.

http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5hTmPa3TKWcnYhN5dNGmP7AWgtmIA">MORE

- It isn't all that hard to figure out....

<--- A Horse Named McCain
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DeSwiss


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[trumad]

1. Can you say Landslide?

[DeSwiss]

2. LANDSLIDE!!! LANDSLIDE!!! LANDSLIDE!!!

Yup. I can say it and I think that it portends to be a repeat of 1964.....

- YAHOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!

[Kittycat]

3. Honestly - I never understood the Religious Sects draw to the right.

It's completely anti-bible. The only thing that they have in common is stripping women of their right to choose. Other than that, the republicans are too closely tied to a 'you're on your own' mentality. Where the bible clearly states that we should be caring for the least of those among us, etc, etc. Week after week churches preach about deeds, lending a hand, rebuilding, etc as a way to live our lives. The core of Democratic party is about caring for others, protecting the earth, etc, etc. Why all the shock.

[FrenchieCat]

4. Because they should be asking themselves.....

"what would Jesus do?" and thinking Sermon on the Mount.

I don't understand how these folks support the Right either.

They will say it is Abortion rights. I counter, so killing innocent civilians in wars that we didn't have to fight is better? How's that? neither group can speak for themselves. The left is not "Pro-Abortion", but rather Pro-Choice. Pro-choice is the law of the land, and as such Activist judges should not be trying to overthrow precedend. We live under a secular government that founded under the belief that each American has the unalienable right to practice the religion that he/she so chooses. That is also pro-choice stance. In fact, the United States was founded on pro-choice, a.k.a., liberty in the pursuit of one's happiness as long as it doesn't abridge directly on the ability for another American to also do so.

Do on to your neighbor as you would want done on to you.

[DeSwiss]

5. Its because....

...the Religious-Right has almost nothing to do with Christianity. It could never have anything to do with Christianity by default, since Christianity is a religion and philosophy with LOVE as its central tenet.

"Jimmy Carter's "message of peace and reconciliation under almost all circumstances is simply
incompatible with Christian teachings as I interpret them. This 'turn the other cheek' business is all well
and good but it's not what Jesus fought and died for. What we need to do is take the battle to the Muslim
heathens and do unto them before they do unto us." ~ Jerry Falwell

[Kittycat]

6. Which in a way - I believe Obama is forcing them to question their faith

or should I say, their commitment to it. Where they committed to what is taught in the bible? Or committed to passing judgment - something that we're to leave to 'god'. The more Obama discusses religion and his past as a community organizer, the more it makes them uncomfortable with their own actions over the past several 8 years. He's bringing them back to the core of the message. Do unto others, love thy neighbor, least of these, good Samaritan, etc, etc, etc... The story of jesus, whether you believe in 'christ' or any religion is much like a set of fables. They're filled with good, solid wisdom for looking out for common man, the less fortunate and protection our world.

I truly believe this is what has brought my family around to warming up to Obama. My dad is a pastor, and my family has been entrenched in a very 'religious-right' form of gospel for years. They were in full support of Bush going to war, because they falsely believed that it was right based in part on blindly believing him, and in part by misled gospel of man (not god). Over time they soured and knew it was wrong, but couldn't accept democratic ways because it was such a sinful step to them. Obama, despite what some on the left would prefer, represent a different way of presenting the word of god. Not through hate, but of love - and he's managed to do it while encompassing the very core values of the democratic party. And I do believe there is room for christianity in the democratic party. I don't believe that we must all carry the same beliefs (I happen to be very progressive/liberal), as long as we can respect each other to make our own decisions in our lives, under the acceptance of law.

[DeSwiss]

8. I understand from whence you speak....

...I'm a PK too. As for your point about Obama's appeal to religious voters, I think you've hit the nail on the head. Its almost a form of shaming them into realizing that in their zeal to craft a society that will enforce their beliefs, they've overlooked the most important aspect of its central core: "love and forgiveness."

As to the conservatives of a political mindset, however, I think its a different story altogether. To an extent you could say that its a capitulation of sorts for these "true conservatives." They realize that their own party is intellectually bankrupt, if not morally so. These so-called "progressive Repukes" have been waiting in the wings since Reaganism, deregulation and our start down this slippery slope was achieved under the auspices of the Moral Majority. A western maverick (a real one) like Goldwater wasn't welcome there. And the East coast "Rockefeller Repukes" as well have held-on in the hopes that the Religious-Right's strangle hold on their party would weaken. And now it has. And many, once loosed, have run scampering into the Dem tent.

- Because we take anybody. Just about.

[ecstatic]

7. It appears to me, that all it takes is forcing people to sit down and listen to him, just once

That seems to be all it takes. I've seen some die hard right wingers stand up for him (Chris Wallace, Bay buchanan, peggy noonan, etc)

[DeSwiss]

9. Either that....

...or forcing them to listen to McCain once. Just once. That's all it takes. http://youtube.com/watch?v=bF3ix2tcBNM

Blah, blah, blah, blah, mumble, mumble, mumble, and that's not change you can believe in, mumble, mumble, mumble, blah, blah, blah, blah....

[Alter Ego]

10. It's the same thing that endears Mike Huckabee

to people across the aisle, even though I know I'd never cast a ballot for him.

He's crazy politically, but gosh darn it he's just so damn LIKABLE.

[Orsino]

11. No mystery. Obama is the real conservative in this race.

McCain is some kind of drooling, war-mongering corporate toady in a conservative suit.

Obama is also the closest thing to a liberal, so his is the widespread appeal.