Hillary Clinton delivered a resplendent, American Odyssey of a speech last night. In so doing, she may have finally reanimated the increasingly lifeless campaign of her one-time rival, Barack Obama. Too, her address made nary a mention of religion and faith.

Michelle Obama also laid off the God Talk in her remarks on Monday. That's two nights in a row! Two nights in a row of what Republicans would have once dubbed as "godlessness" emanating from the featured speakers at the Democratic National Convention.

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Michelle Obama's speech last night in Denver was quite skillfully executed. I would describe it as "a refreshing secular surprise." Surprising because of late we have come to expect nothing less than sermons and homilies from the 2008 Democrats. Refreshing because she managed to speak about family, community and country without quoting First Thessalonians, or mentioning her personal relation with Jesus Christ, or asking us to praise Him.

She didn't need to do any of that. Her party, after all, has so ramped up the God Talk that they no longer need to rehearse their religious bona fides at every turn. Too, there might have been other motivations for tamping down the faith-based stuff: the Obamas' messy divorce from their controversial church of two decades necessitated that she say little about her formative religious experiences.

In terms of target audiences, and in deference to the Democrats' love of 70s pop, let's refer to this evening as "Ladies Night." Cleverly, Ms. Obama interpreted Hillary Clinton's 18 million votes as a victory for the gals. From there she played countless arpeggios on the theme of her identity as a Family Woman.

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On the eve of Barack Obama's announcement of his vice-presidential running mate the following bears repeating: the McCain team takes Obama's ability to play the religious card very seriously. And it would like to do everything within its power to pulverize that appeal to hanging-chad sized smithereens.

To this end, the campaign has released a variant of the infamous "The One" spot that it unleashed three weeks back. This contribution is entitled "The One II-Road to Denver." It has an afterthoughtish, let's-empty-out-the-cupboards quality about it, recycles old footage, and will probably, and rightly, be ignored.

Yet as an indice of some of the lines of attack that the McCain camp is employing it is of great interest. It also raises some urgent tactical questions for the Obama people (who had better stop "high-roading" it on F and V issues):

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In terms of Faith and Values politicking, it's kind of hard to get psyched up about the prospect of Joe Biden coming aboard as Barack Obama's running mate. I can't think of any religious constituency he singularly and automatically delivers to the Senator from Illinois Come to think of it, I can' think of any constituency he singularly and automatically delivers. (Admittedly, that's not the only thing a vice-presidential candidate can bring to the table).

Biden is a Catholic. He is reliably liberal. He is reliably pro-Choice. But nothing I have seen in the general election indicates that Obama has difficulties with reliably liberal, pro-Choice Catholics.

But--note this--there is reason to believe that pro-Choice Catholic politicians can have tremendous difficulties with the Church. These difficulties can become debilitating distractions. The case study here was the candidacy of John Kerry in 2004. As I have noted elsewhere, the "communion denial" stories that trailed him from archdiocese to archdiocese for months mired his campaign in awful publicity.

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Stop the presses! The New York Times and so many others are reporting that John McCain was not, I repeat not, sitting in what Pastor Rick Warren referred to as "the cone of silence" while Barack Obama was questioned during Saturday night's Saddleback Civil Forum on the Presidency.

McCain staffers told journalists that the Republican candidate was in a motorcade on his way to the church when Obama was on stage, but heard none of the questions. Yet in an age of Blackberrys and text-messaging that strains credulity.

This is no small matter. In fact, it's a huge matter, if only because we: 1) were assured by the Pastor that he [McCain] was not able to hear the questions asked of Obama, 2) were led to believe by McCain that he was in the "cone of silence" as well, and 3) watched McCain blow the doors off of every single question that was asked of him.

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The hands-down winner of Saturday evening's Saddleback Civil Forum on the Presidency was John McCain. The loser was American secularism. As for Barack Obama, well, let's just say it was his most Dukakis-y performance yet.

While commentators have made much of how "nuanced" Obama was in his responses to Pastor Rick Warren's prompts, I think it would be better to describe him as "calm, even subdued." And let me not mince words: being nuanced, calm and even subdued is not necessarily the winning formula in front of a megachurch full of Evangelicals.

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I am vacationing off the coast of Sicily where internet access is rather spotty (and where no sane person spends much time online anyway). But once I experienced John McCain's "The One" attack ad I immediately put down my octopus-hunting harpoon and started taking notes.

By the time Charlton Heston began doing his Moses shtick I realized I was in the presence of one of the biggest Faith and Values stories of the campaign. So please permit me a few reflections as I sip my Malvasia (BTW: how's the weather in DC?):

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For those scholars and journalists covering religious politicking in 2008, John McCain is no muse, no inspired source of ideas and angles, no solvent of writer's block.

He certainly captured our interest when he referred to America as a “Christian Nation” back in the fall. He titillated us when he proclaimed himself to be a Baptist, not an Episcopalian. “Appreciative” is the word I would use to describe how many of us felt when he sought out and subsequently disavowed Reverends Hagee and Parsley.

But other than that, his run for the presidency has been dry toast on a cloudy day for Faith and Values pundits.

As for Barack Obama, well there’s a candidate who generates storylines! Just a few days ago he appeared in prime-time to address a magazine cover which, with a clin d’œil (THAT MEANS “A WINK OF THE EYE” FOR YOU NASCAR-FUME-ADDLED RUBES WHO DON'T UNDERSTAND FRENCH, LET ALONE THE NEW YORKER’S FINELY TUNED SENSE OF IRONY), depicted the Obamas, variously, as: 1) radical Islamists, 2) Black Power militants, 3) Supporters of Osama Bin Laden, and, 4) desecrators of Old Glory.

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Senator Obama’s appearance on Larry King Live last night may finally put an end to the ructions caused by The New Yorker’s recent homage to Mad Magazine.

One could argue that the Obama campaign used the controversy over the offensive, albeit technically well-executed, cover as a pretext to get their man some free, national, prime-time exposure. If that was indeed the devious plan, then they pulled it off quite successfully.

His appearance provided him with an opportunity to methodically criticize Senator McCain, to talk about another stimulus package, to continue his efforts to link any discussion of Iraq with a discussion of Afghanistan (arguing that recent difficulties in the latter are inextricably bound with the strains caused by our commitments to the former) -- and, mostly, to again assure voters that his religion is Christianity.

He came across as the image of an enlightened citizen in an advanced democracy. Sure, it offended him personally. But he’s seen worse and, after all, it’s a free country.

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“Well, if that’s the way he runs his campaign, I don’t really know if I want this guy to be my president”-- is a refrain I have heard from those covering the Faith and Values operations of both John McCain and Barack Obama.

As regards the Senator from Arizona, the most common complaints are well known (and have been made frequently by those reporting on other aspects of his campaign). The Maverick’s religious outreach division is said to be rudderless, disorganized, and lacking any coherent vision for scoring God Votes.

Compare this to the Obama team, an outfit so meticulously organized and relentlessly focused on The Goal that some observers (of an anti-authoritarian bent, admittedly) have mentioned that it kind of creeps them out.

What’s so good--or imposing--about the Obama F and V shop? To begin with, it has a state-by-state, multi-denomination plan in place. It has a vast array of personnel, ranging from battle-hardened operatives, to civilian Enthused Religious Voters."

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That one must refrain from expressing a desire to castrate a presidential candidate, especially a candidate whom one claims to support, and especially when on the set of Fox and Friends, is a tried and true axiom of beltway punditry.

For some reason Jesse Jackson forgot this timeless rule of thumb this past Sunday, not realizing Fox's camera and microphone were live. (YouTube!--do that electoral thing that you do!)

Secularists, I have always argued, are people who easily acknowledge their own folly and tolerate the folly of others. Rev. Jackson’s remark, directed at Senator Obama for "talking down to black people", was pure folly, comedy gold. (Larry David -- who sets nightmares to comedy -- couldn't have scripted and staged it better.) Jackson has apologized to Senator Obama and I truly hope that the whole thing blows over (assuming that no more video is forthcoming).

If this affair has any relevance at all it serves as a warning to the presumptive Democratic nominee: he may be taking too many liberties with his base and too fast. Just last month, I came close to articulating Jesse Jackson's complaint:

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Barack Obama, that spry Prometheus of the Religious Politicking Heavens, graciously offers observers of Faith and Values outreach something to write (and even think) about nearly every day.

He commandeers pulpits and makes inspiring speeches. He schmoozes with fence- straddling Evangelical and Catholic clergy. Without any prompting, he offers to play out George W. Bush’s third term by expanding his program of faith-based initiatives.

But what about John McCain? When it comes to politics and religion demonstrably less writing and thought have been devoted to him. In what follows I will present what I see as The Wonky Consensus regarding the Maverick’s F and V outreach. In order to balance things out, I will then discuss The Counter-Intuitive Wisdom.

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This past Saturday Senator Barack Obama was at it again. During an address at African Methodist Episcopal Church in St. Louis he reiterated his commitment to expanding President Bush’s faith-based initiatives. Such a program, he assured his listeners, would be “the moral center of my administration.”

Thus, the conversation that Obama sparked last Tuesday looks like it’s just revving up. In the hopes of pushing the discussion further along, permit me to provide some responses to frequently asked questions:

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Yesterday Senator Obama delivered a bold address in which he spoke of establishing a “Council for Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships.” This endeavor, he emphasized, “will be a critical part of my administration.”

I am not a legal scholar, but a mere biblical exegete. This disqualifies me from commenting authoritatively or even insightfully on the legality of this proposal--a proposal made by a politician who, incidentally, knows his constitutional law.

Still, Obama's plan strikes me as deeply problematic on both theoretical and practical grounds. Those who may be familiar with my work know that I have been very critical of Old School Secular Liberalism, seeing it as out of ideas and energy. But what I am about to say is going to make me sound so Old School Secular Liberal.

So be it.

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Those of us who study religious politicking have had a most eventful spring. We have experienced the YouTube stylings of Father Michael Pfleger. We have had further encounters with the teachings of Reverend Jeremiah Wright. Articles about John McCain’s difficulties with Evangelicals now come out at 15-second intervals, so we have been pretty captivated by that as well.

With all the ructions of the past few months, there has been little time to step back and see the Big Picture. It may be helpful, then, to pause and identify leading F and V trends in the second quarter of 2008:

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Pundits were left scratching their heads as to what exactly James Dobson was aiming for in his excoriation of Barack Obama. My sources inform me that folks in both the Obama and McCain campaigns don't know what to make of his comments either.

Nor do I. Lest our fingernails dig down to our skulls, permit me a few random observations in an effort to make some sense of it all:

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Mississippi native Burns Strider was, until just a few weeks ago, Senior Adviser and Director of Faith Based Outreach for Senator Hillary Clinton’s 2008 presidential campaign. As readers of The God Vote might recall, I thought the team he led performed quite skillfully.

Having completed his duties for the Clinton campaign, Mr. Strider has recently announced the formation of The Eleison Group (of which he is a Founding Partner). He describes it as “a full service firm focusing on faith and values in terms of communications, message development, targeting, strategic planning, clergy and faith group relations, developing relationships and advancing policy that speaks to the common good.”

I would describe it as a “Faith and Values Shop” and it’s one that is poised to further advance the Democratic Party’s surprising resurgence in the domain of religious politicking.

Whether or not you think that this resurgence is in the best interests of the Party (or the country), it’s a resurgence that Mr. Strider is uniquely equipped to bring to fruition. He has served as an adviser to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, directed, the U.S. House Democratic Faith Working Group and Rural Working Group, worked on 15 campaigns (directing 5 of them), and spent two years in Hong Kong as a missionary with the Southern Baptist Convention where he served as a youth minister. In 2007, Religion News Service named him one of the “12 most influential Democrats in the nation on faith and values politics and issues.”

We at “On Faith” thought it would be interesting for our readers to hear from an expert in a form of political outreach that is growing increasingly significant in modern American campaigning, albeit one that is perhaps not widely understood by the public at large. We hope you enjoy this interview, as well as a video of a discussion that Sally Quinn and I had with Mr. Strider (which will be posted shortly).

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When it comes to religious politicking, some really intriguing (and ominous) parallels are developing between McCain of 2008 and Kerry of 2004. Let’s start by looking at some of the things that Red John and Blue John share in common, shall we?:

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The Democratic Party’s presumptive presidential candidate, as you may know, gave an address at the Apostolic Church of God in Chicago on Father’s Day (video, transcript).

Now I, personally, don’t have strong opinions about Father’s Day. It does, however, strike me as a tad bit incongruous that fathers are expected to spend Father’s Day, in its 7 a.m.-to-8 p.m. entirety, with their children and they are also expected to spend Mother’s Day doing exactly the same thing.

Senator Obama raised a somewhat similar concern yesterday, contrasting the “hoopla” that surrounds Mother’s Day with the relative calm of its June counterpart. But he had a lot of other thoughts on moms and dads in a speech that was a virtuoso display of Faith and Values politicking. In his first turn back at the pulpit since leaving Trinity United Church of Christ, Obama scored points by doing the following:

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In the 72 hours since I laid out the first 5 of 12 steps that could help rejuvenate John McCain’s flagging Faith and Values outreach, his Faith and Values outreach has somehow flagged a bit more!

Not happily for the Senator from Arizona, stories about his woes with conservative Evangelicals are proliferating. See for example this article from CNN, or listen to this lively discussion on NPR’s To the Point where host Warren Olney interviews journalist Wayne Slater, Evangelical leader Mark DeMoss, Professor Ronald Walters, and me ("Can the Democrats Close the God Gap," June 11th).

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Developing a Faith and Values campaign strategy for John McCain in the forthcoming general election is a daunting task. This is because his opponent, the Senator from Illinois, is exceedingly accomplished with religious rhetoric and exceedingly comfortable with diverse religious audiences. The Senator from Arizona is neither.

Still, the brutal primary season has exposed vulnerabilities in Obama’s religious coat of mail. Moreover, McCain may have a few major faith constituencies in his pocket (see below). So not all is lost. Not yet.

If the Maverick wishes to rack up God Votes in 2008, I would suggest that he consider following 12 recommendations. One of which, I will soon admit, is pretty risky:

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With Hillary’s Clinton’s expected suspension of campaign operations Saturday, the Faith and Values Primary Season will officially come to an end.

Speaking on behalf those who study the intersection between religion and politics I want to give a shout out to all the Republicans and Democrats who ran for the presidency. Especially you, Mike Huckabee and Mitt Romney. You guys were the best.

But now we must move to the general election and here are some of the stories I predict we will be following. First and foremost, expect the candidates to be exceedingly cautious with all forms of Faith and Values politicking. The carefree days when an operative could simply approach a cleric and say “Hey you over there with the megachurch and the media empire. Want to join our team?” are decidedly over.

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A few bleary eyed reflections on last night’s three speeches:

The McCain Speech: I am not W

Demosthenes he’s not! The Senator from Arizona, as we learned again, is not an inspiring orator. But in his defense, he was saddled tonight with the most subdued audience in the history of rhetoric. Where are those four guys whooping it up behind Father Pfleger when you need them?

Then again, maybe “low-key” is the way to go. McCain will never out-dazzle Obama. He knows that and perhaps that’s why he staged his remarks in what looked like a crab shack. Making a virtue out of necessity his handlers will cast him as a down-to-earth alternative to the spectacular, high-falutin' Obama.

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"My -- again what I want to do in church is I want to be able to take Michelle and my girls, sit in a pew quietly, hopefully get some nice music, some good reflection, praise God, thank Him for all of the blessings He has given our family, put some money in the collection plate, maybe afterwards go out and grab some brunch, have my girls go to Sunday school. That's what I am looking for." Senator Barack Obama discussing his reasons for leaving his church this past weekend in Aberdeen, South Dakota

“Disastertunist” is the term I use to refer to that person who always manages to find an opportunity lurking in what everyone else would consider to be an unmitigated disaster. One finds disastertunists working for all successful political campaigns. Their numbers are also pronounced among venture capitalists, professional alpaca breeders, and fans of the New York Jets.

The Obama campaign is desperately in need of such individuals and I would urge its human resources division to start posting those job descriptions now. Qualified candidates must have the ability--an ability lacking among his strategists-- to immediately recognize a catastrophe when they see one.

Such a person could have helped Obama’s handlers (and perhaps The New York Times as well) confront a truth they stubbornly resisted for months. Namely, that nothing, but nothing, has threatened his victory in November more than his association with Trinity United Church of Christ.

A disastertunist is an optimist, but ultimately a realist a well. The reality is--and it must be very painful for the Senator to accept--that there are people at Trinity who don’t very much like him and don’t wish him well.

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By the time you finish watching this YouTube video (which had about 95,000 showings as of this morning) it will be well on its way to reaching: 1) its one millionth viewing, and, 2) its one billionth close reading by Clinton and McCain staffers.

The action took place last Sunday at Trinity United Church of Christ in Chicago. Yes. That Trinity United Church of Christ in Chicago! This time, however, the valedictory is made not by the Rev. Jeremiah Wright, but by a white Chicago Catholic priest by the name of Rev. Michael Pfleger.

During his sermon, Father Pfleger mocked Hillary Clinton's tears before the New Hampshire primary. He opines that she cried because she felt "entitled" because she is white "and there's a black man stealing my show.'' Father Pfleger apologized late Thursday for the remarks, saying his sermon was "inconsistent with Senator Obama's life and message."

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Why? Why, I ask, did John McCain disarticulate his presidential campaign from Pastors John Hagee and Rod Parsley last week? As we shall see below, he cut them off even though it looked like he would overcome the turbulence created by their support. I have a few theories, but first permit me to point out that the Senator’s move spells trouble for Spiritual Endorsers far and wide.

In the bestiary of Faith and Values politicking the Spiritual Endorser occupies a place distinct from the Spiritual Mentor (with whom s/he is always confused). Spiritual Endorsers (such as John Hagee) are to be distinguished from Spiritual Mentors (such as Jeremiah Wright) in the following tripartite respect. To begin with, the Endorser need not be of the same faith tradition as the endorsee.

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Watching the Oregon returns on CNN last Tuesday night, I was intrigued by an odd statistic: among those who described themselves as professing “no religion,” 61% cast their ballot for Senator Obama.

My curiosity piqued, I proceeded to scour Democratic exit polls to see if this was some sort of fluke. It was no fluke: of the 30 states where I could find comparable data, Obama won the “no religion” crowd an astonishing 26 times!

This pattern held in the early races where three or more candidates were on the slate. And it held in the later, head-to-head contests against Senator Clinton (though she carried them in Arkansas, Florida, Tennessee, and West Virginia).

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Much has been said over the past few weeks about the fatal, tactical missteps made by Hillary Clinton's campaign. These include a troubling lack of caucus know-how, an overabundance of underestimating the competition, and shortsightedness in long-term planning for the primary season.

After tonight's Oregon primary, it seems likely that more autopsic observations such as these are in store for tomorrow. But if there is one component of Clinton's operation that does not deserve the label "pathological," it would be her religious outreach unit; it was one of the bright spots in an otherwise disappointing effort.

To begin with, we should recall that in 2008 Clinton was never burdened with a charge that dogged her in the early nineties. Namely, that she was some sort of godless radical feminist, out of touch with normal, church-going American folk.

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Evangelical Pastor John Hagee has issued a written apology to Catholics. Bill Donahue has accepted the apology and decreed the case “closed.” “Whatever problems we had before,” announced the president of the Catholic League, “are now history.”

Under most circumstances only those devoted to the promulgation of ecumenical good will would pay any attention to this. But many people are paying attention to this. And they are not brimming with ecumenical good will.

That’s because the whole Hagee affair can be filed under the burgeoning category: “Affiliations With Religious Figures That May Have Catastrophic Ramifications Come Election Day.” Hagee, as is well known, endorsed McCain in late February. Within hours of his endorsement, news of the Televangelist’s anti-Catholic sentiments made national headlines.

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Having had the weekend to further reflect on the Evangelical Manifesto, I am happy (and relieved) to report that I still concur with my initial assessment. After a few more perusals, however, three new observations come to mind.

To begin with the document might have been more aptly entitled “The Evangelical Intellectuals’ Manifesto.” It’s a thoughtful and challenging piece, full of self-criticism and open-ended questions. In this respect it brings to the fore a side of this culture which most non-Evangelicals never knew existed.

Televangelists, Megachurches, Jesus Campers, scandal-plagued pastors, and bestselling authors peddling low-wattage Christological pulp—those are things that most non-Evangelicals knew existed.

But beneath that all (or above that all) can be discerned a not inconsiderable network of serious Evangelical theologians, institutions of higher education, discussion groups, artists, cultivated laypersons, and so forth.

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This week a group of scholars and theologians released the “Evangelical Manifesto” at the National Press Club. It is a thoughtful, ambitious, if somewhat uneven, treatise and I wonder if the decision to premiere the document in Washington D.C. was necessarily a wise one.

It might have received a more serious reading (which it deserved) had it been unveiled at Wheaton or Taylor, or some other Evangelical college of distinction. After all, a doctrinally freighted statement like, “All too often we have been seduced by the shaping power of the modern world, exchanging a costly grace for convenience,” is not the type of claim that most journalists are equipped to assess without calling their contacts at the local seminary.

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I would like to make a few observations about last night’s primaries, in particular the themes and images struck by the candidates in their respective victory speeches. But first, permit me one unsolicited--and unoriginal--observation: Oh Good Lord what a friggin' mess the Democrat nominating process is!

Between pledged delegates and Super Delegates and the popular vote and secretive caucuses and Florida and Michigan, I confess to being utterly dumbfounded as to: a) whom the totality of Democratic voters (as opposed to, for example, Republican voters who gleefully participated in primary day festivities) actually favor, and, b) whether the whole convoluted process can in any way, shape, or form yield the most electable candidate.

But let’s get to the imagery and oratory, shall we?

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It is midweek. Reverend Jeremiah Wright has spoken and every national news outlet has gone to Code Red.

The fallout from the pastor’s triptych of fulmination (Moyers/NAACP/NPC) has whipped the punditry up into a frenzy. The pollsters are re-tabulating. The Super Delegates are posturing and re-positioning. The operatives are shouting their talking points. The moderators are appealing for calm.

Footage of Wright doing his (not un-amusing) “But-Black-Folks- Do-It-Like-This!” routine is being looped endlessly. As is the image of a tense Obama standing on a runway and looking like his head is about to explode.

And then, almost as an afterthought, the major news divisions all feel obliged to show a clip of Hillary Clinton.

It has a dreamlike quality to it.

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Standing on a tarmac yesterday a rather tense Barack Obama said of Jeremiah Wright: “He does not speak for me. He does not speak for the campaign.”

True enough. But how exactly should the Senator speak in the aftermath of the Reverend’s recent attempts to McGovernize and Mondaleize his candidacy? Permit me to rehearse some possible responses to the existential threat posed by Wright. But please recall that none of the forthcoming proposals is particularly good. Like America's foreign policy options in Iran, the Senator’s alternatives in this crisis can be described as “bad” and “worse”:

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As with most analysts who cover the 2008 election I receive my share of spin-related e-mails (referred to from here on in as “Spreemails”) from the campaigns of those running for high office.

A Spreemail may be described thusly: a political infomercial directed exclusively at pundits in hopes of getting these clueless dimwits to tow a presidential aspirant’s party line in their forthcoming blogs, columns, radio shows, web videos, mixed media installations, etc. In an effort to quell the inveterate suspicions of aforesaid pundits, a Spreemail will often, but not always, contain references to credible journalistic and scholarly sources.

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It seems like an eternity since Senator Barack Obama’s winter of ascent. Remember the 12 consecutive triumphs? Remember Ted Kennedy and American University levitating off their moorings in Washington? Remember the 45-minute (!) victory speech on February 19th in front of nearly 20,000 delirious Texans?

But spring, as the jazz singers remind us, can really hang you up the most. March and April have brought with them some bad energy for the Obama camp. Was I the only one who saw an ominous portent in that cringe-inducing footage of some imbecile in Philadelphia hounding the Senator to pose for a picture and autograph his Cheese Steak? (Note to the Secret Service: the threat of being tasered is an exceedingly effective deterrent).

This has been the season of Rezko and Samantha Power and typical white persons and Reverend Wright and so much bitterness. As for the latter, the words are now well known. At a fund-raiser in San Francisco, Obama spoke of rural folks “cling[ing] to guns or religion or antipathy to people who aren't like them or anti-immigrant sentiment or anti-trade sentiment as a way to explain their frustrations"

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There were many winners at Sunday night’s Compassion Forum at Messiah College and no discernible losers as far as I could tell.

For starters, the sponsoring and organizing group, Faith in Public Life, handled logistics superbly. FPL is setting an agenda and it is doing so with a “Big Tent” philosophy of letting different religious Americans bring their concerns to the fore. Last night a theologically diverse group of pre-selected clergy asked questions about euthanasia, environmental concerns, poverty, AIDS, the relation between science and faith, and so on. In so doing, they broadened the issue palette pertaining to religious politicking considerably. This is where Faith in Public Life is making a major contribution to national discourse.

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As I get ready for this Sunday’s Compassion Forum, I keep repeating to myself the French maxim: “Les absents ont toujours tort” (Who said that? La Rochefoucauld? When in doubt always say La Rochefoucauld).

The proverb translates as “those who are not present are always wrong” and my guess is that senators Obama and Clinton will discuss at length what they view as the wrongfulness of (the absent) John McCain’s policies, not to mention those of the party that he represents.

This raises the question as to why the Senator from Arizona declined the invitation to participate from the sponsoring group, Faith in Public Life.

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I greet the spring like characters in Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales: with relief, weary gratitude and ebullience. As the month of March expires I praise the sky and salute the sun. I smile toothily at forlorn pansies that cross my path.

Yet there is one rite of spring which leaves me decidedly glum. I refer to the start of baseball season. Compounding my despair is the veritable Cult of Baseball that predominates in the newsrooms of America. Question: How do you know it’s Opening Day? Answer: When half the (often secular) pundits nationwide are writing columns about baseball being like religion. Like their religion.

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Why credible opinion makers lack any modicum of objectivity when addressing this subject is beyond me. But it has not escaped my attention that nearly every psalmist of The Diamond lets slip something to the effect of “My dad used to take me to the ballpark.” The infection sets in early.

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That the 2008 campaign is drawing attention to the declining fortunes of American secularism is a point I have been making in these columns and elsewhere. It is with similar concern that I call attention to an overlapping (and under-discussed) trend that is coming into sharper focus this election season: the ongoing collapse of the distinction between the public and private sphere.

Let me start by adducing three seemingly disparate examples (bear with me):

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Analysis of the first quarter of 2008 suggests that Faith and Values Politicking is Like Skating--Check That: Speed Skating--On Thin Ice With a Little Vial of Nitroglycerin Stashed in a Recess of Your Skin-Tight, Oddly Eroticized, Aerodynamic Suit. Indeed, a glance at the past three months reminds us of the truism that playing the religion card may diminish electoral profitability.

Take, for example, Mike Huckabee. His disquisition on amending the Constitution to God's standards clearly antagonized secularists. It also led some religious non-Evangelicals to change their perception of Huck from “likeable, guitar-strumming Christian dude” to “dangerous Right-wing fanatic.” But my hunch was that patriotic Evangelicals were dismayed by the intemperance of those remarks as well.

Over in the Obama camp, the combustive properties of God Talk are now also well appreciated. The Senator’s published tributes to Jeremiah Wright were eagerly cited by opponents celebrating the nation’s one billionth viewing of the Reverend's YouTube philippics.

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Although I had initially conjured up the idea only to reject it as undemocratic, perhaps it is high time that we as a nation, believers and nonbelievers alike, consider the establishment of the 28th Amendment. Its majestic words would read as follows:

Section 1. The right of presidential aspirants to discuss religion, invoke sacred texts, or mention God on the campaign trail is hereby repealed

Section 3. The Congress shall have power to have the offending religious figure immediately deported to France

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About a decade ago I was researching a book that required me to spend a good deal of time taking in numerous and sundry varieties of African-American oratory. I look back at those visits to churches, Afrocentric rallies, and community activist gatherings with fondness. They certainly alleviated the archival tedium of an otherwise dull scholarly project.

That’s because there is long tradition of outstanding and invigorating oratory in African America. How outstanding and invigorating? So much so that an accomplished speaker such as Senator Barack Obama would still be considered to be a mere promising Triple-A prospect by the lofty standards of black public rhetoric.

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I want to preface these rather critical observations about Barack Obama’s “A More Perfect Union” address with non-faint praise. As far as I am concerned the good Senator is unequivocally the most intelligent and intellectually sophisticated politician in America today.

Why am I, as with many other members of the professorate, so enthralled by him? Well, for one he doesn’t merely wish to solicit our votes, he wants to edify us as well. Yet in many ways this relentless quest to enlighten the electorate was one of the major problems with Tuesday’s oration.

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