Saddleback showdown
August 18, 2008
Saturday evening’s Saddleback political event may come to be regarded as the true kick-off of the presidential election campaign of 2008. It was unprecedented in terms of venue and format. Held at California’s Saddleback Church, Pastor Rick Warren conducted back-to-back hour-long interviews, first with Barack Obama and then with John McCain. The interviews overlapped briefly, producing this memorable photo op.
The meeting was billed as a step toward a return to civility in political public intercourse, but the candidates were not given the opportunity to engage each other, civilly or otherwise. Rick Warren posed the questions and pretty much sat back and let the candidates respond as they wished. Neither heard the answers of their rival. The result was a stark contrast of views, especially on abortion and religious faith. It was no surprise that Obama was pro-choice and McCain pro-life, of course, but what they said (or didn’t say) about their faith in front of a neo-evangelical audience was very interesting.
Taken at face value, Obama professes an orthodox Christian faith. His use of Scripture and his talk about the Lordship of Jesus Christ (indirectly) is impossible to reconcile with his pro-choice views, but at least he knew the language and basic principles of being a Christian. Quoting Rick Warren’s The Purpose Driven Life, he professed that his religion wasn’t about Obama but about God. Or something like that.
John McCain, on the other hand, sounded like his faith and convictions were based more on patriotism than belief in God. His unbridled optimism about the future of our country is very appealing, but no one with a Christian worldview would share McCain’s enthusiasm about putting America first.
Worldview
What kept me uncharacteristically glued to the tube for two long hours with too many commercials was the hope of getting some insight into their respective worldviews. I didn’t expect either to reflect a Christian worldview, and I wasn’t disappointed in that. Missing in the responses of both Obama and McCain were clues about what they believed about Creation, the Fall, and Redemption, which arguably are the structural elements of every philosophy and ideology, Christian or secular.
When asked whether or not they believed in the existence of evil, each quickly answered yes, but they elaborated on their answers in vastly different ways. Obama sees evil mostly in the abstract and appeared to see evidence of evil both in the U.S. and abroad. His specific examples of evil were few and sketchy. My conclusion was that he does not deny that bad things happen but does not have clear conviction about the source of evil in the world or how to respond to it. Except for saying that we all must join together to fight evil in the world, his posture seemed basically reactive and vague. This partly may be because he has been fortunate enough to have had little personal contact with evil.
McCain, in contrast, has strong feelings about evil in the world. He mentioned his Viet Nam captivity, the events of 9/11 and talked about the threat of Al-Qaida today. He had no trouble pointing to specific examples of evil in the world today. Such black or white characterizations may not always be a Good Thing for a President, although in the cases of prison brutality and Al-Qaida it’s easy to agree. I would feel more comfortable with McCain if I thought his convictions were part of a Christian worldview.
The genius of Rick Warren’s approach was letting us hear Obama and McCain respond off the cuff to open ended questions about the issues of the day. It was not a debate. Each man responded in his own way to the same questions. Most of the time Warren was able to sit back and listen with the rest of us without imposing his own views.
One thought that I came away with is that Obama is too young and too inexperienced; McCain is too old and too experienced. What is sure is that they would bring quite different perspectives to the problems of the day. Who they would select as key advisors is crucial, and we should keep our eyes peeled for clues as the campaign grinds on..
When asked who are the three wisest people you know, and who would you most rely on as President, Obama first named his wife, his grandmother, and Senator Kennedy. McCain put General Petraeus at the top of his list and added a couple of respected national figures, the names of whom I don’t recall. (There is a lot that I don’t recall these days.) I found neither response very comforting.
If you listened to the Saddleback Showdown, what are your thoughts? If you didn’t listen, you may have missed an important bit of our political history.
Dave, wondering how to vote for Mr. None of the Above.
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Dave:
Drew & I both listened to the debate on XM radio in it’s entirety coming home from Springfield. Therefore, we did not get to see the actual facial expressions, posture & reactions to questions except by voice interpretation.
I agree with your points… I thought Obama was a lot of ‘fluff’ as usual & was able to use that eloquent vocabulary to make his way through. I thought he skirted around the answers to make it appear he was in Rick’s corner but had to be careful to stick with his views… such as abortion.. he said pro-life but quickly talked more about reducing abortions, etc.. I think in another ‘venue’ his talk would have been a lot more OBAMA than what he tried to smooth over that evening.
I wondered…. if Obama in a different venue would have mentioned God as much as he did? I know the setting was in a church but when answering various questions (non biblical)– he seemed to get his biblical wording in… such as the ‘Devil is in the details’, etc.. Would he have said that in a CNN debate?
So– my impression of Obama is the same… young, inexperienced, great speaker that knows just what to say in the right situation.
McCain appeared to be more put together of course.. he was direct & answered the questions I felt a little more from the heart. In general, I didn’t think he mentioned ‘biblical’ plugs like Obama since his views are more in line with what we wanted to hear. However, he mentions the story of the guard in Vietnam drawing the cross in the sand… we wondered why wasn’t McCain drawing the cross… but I’m not here to judge what he did or didn’t do… I can’t imagine prison camp.
I too was disappointed with the 3 most important people…. God was not the first on any list… a little troublesome….
It was a historical moment… & the off the cuff questions were just what they needed… like who they wouldn’t have picked for the supreme court justices, their daily walk with God… did either of them really answer what they do daily?
So- I guess it left me thinking– ‘okay, they’re with Rick Warren @ Saddleback’ so they’re going to answer a little more with biblical intentions & words… but would they answer in these terms about their faith in a debate outside of church & just how much substance was there?
Still wondering…
SE