In theory, on paper, and in an enhanced 3-D computer simulation, presidential hopeful John McCain should score big among White Evangelicals. As I noted on Tuesday, this is not the case. His relations with their power brokers have ranged from correct, to chilly, to catastrophic.
Explanations for his difficulties can be divided into two broad categories. The first could be labeled “It’s McCain’s damn fault!” The second, “These Evangelicals are impossible to deal with!” No matter how we delegate blame, their encounters throughout the years have never failed to entertain.
Needless to say, it was impolitic of McCain to lash out against Jerry Falwell and Pat Roberston in 2000, dubbing them “agents of intolerance” Of course, that outburst came in the aftermath of McCain’s collapse in a spectacularly nasty South Carolina primary. In the process of rescuing George W. Bush from his New Hampshire defeat, Falwell and Robertson dispatched their minions to strafe the senator’s good name (and presidential dreams).
Now, as far as they were concerned all that was just a little payback. Their support for Bush was partly motivated by anger concerning the McCain-Feingold bill -- a piece of legislation (ultimately passed in 2002) which they believed would severely restrict their ability to promote their candidates and political agenda nationwide.
McCain’s commitment to campaign finance reform, ostensibly, was not fueled by any desire to punish Conservative Christians. Still, there was enough mutual suspicion in the air to make this interpretation plausible. It is often forgotten that McCain had tangled with traditional Protestants during the confirmation hearings of his friend John Tower, who had been nominated for Secretary of Defense by President George H.W. Bush.
Testimony about Tower’s slack morals was delivered by Paul Weyrich, an architect of the Religious Right. McCain settled that score in his 2002 book Worth the Fighting For. There, he described Mr. Weyrich thusly: “I like to think I know a pompous, self-serving son of a bitch when I see one, a facility that God, who loves His sinners as well as His saints, has seen fit to bless me with.”
Ah! That’s the voice of Senator John McCain of Arizona -- the maverick, the straight talker, the salty sea dog. That’s a voice with considerable crossover appeal to Libertarians, centrist Democrats and Independents. But that voice won’t be heard in 2008. Over the past year McCain has made peace with Evangelicals. His recent reference to himself as a Baptist indicates that has done the electoral math and will let bygones be bygones. He will pursue the strategy -- a hazardous one, I think -- of riding the Evangelical vote to his party’s nomination.
It is for this reason that he will need to discover a new voice. When it comes to religious rhetoric McCain is the strong and silent type. His faith is quiet, subdued. This is a tone that comes naturally to a person who was raised Episcopalian and is the scion of Navy royalty. When doing God Talk McCain lacks that exuberance, that forget-my-planned-remarks-I-just-want-to- give-it-up-to-Jesus-Christ! spontaneity that often overtakes Evangelicals at the most mundane moments.
In this regards, he has much to learn from Mitt Romney -- a self-described “Evangelical Mormon” who is never at a loss for winged words. Fred Thompson, too, can mouth religious lines with the polish and precision of a skilled actor. While McCain’s political positions are usually congenial with those of White Evangelicals he must start to speak to them in a language that is congenial with their highly emotive spirituality.
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