They will both be answering questions during the general.
Scrutiny of Obama’s Congregation Could Set Tone for Future Electionsby Judson Berger
Saturday, May 31, 2008
Barack Obama could be just days away from clinching the Democratic nomination, but don’t expect that to staunch the controversies over candidates and their congregations — this year or in any election.
The Illinois senator’s campaign has invited almost unprecedented scrutiny to a candidate’s religious background and associations. Obama’s pastor troubles were compounded this week by the Rev. Michael Pfleger, whose videotaped rant against Hillary Clinton at Obama’s church drew jeers from the presidential candidates.
In a political climate that increasingly puts candidates’ personal lives on display, the heightened focus this year on the influence of clergymen could leave an impression on future elections.
“Never before has a candidate’s pastor affiliations been so critical to his electability,” said Marc Lamont Hill, a professor at Temple University. “It was never personal to the extent that it is here.”
Religious controversy is hardly a new development in American politics. Throughout the country’s history, its presidents, though almost uniformly Protestant, have differed widely in their faith perspectives.
And when President Kennedy was running for the office, he faced concern that his Catholic faith meant he would take guidance directly from the Pope. Kennedy refuted that claim directly, and more recently, former Republican candidate Mitt Romney used Kennedy’s words as a backdrop when he publicly addressed concerns about his Mormon faith last December. Meanwhile, Obama, a Christian, faced false rumors about his Muslim ties.
But in Obama’s case, the shower of Internet videos showing the incendiary remarks of his pastor and other clergy at Trinity United Church of Christ in Chicago has raised the volume on discussions of clergy and the candidates.
Hill noted that Connecticut Sen. Joe Lieberman never faced such scrutiny of his Jewish faith and congregation when he ran on Al Gore’s ticket in 2000.
Part of the difference, Hill said, is that Obama is the first viable black presidential candidate, and “for black people in general, religion and politics are intimately linked.”
Besides what he saw as hints of racism, he said many voters just were not used to that blatant politicization of the pulpit.
Churches and synagogues across the country freely discuss political and social issues, such as abortion, gay marriage and the state of Israel. Black pastors often reference political candidates directly, and some run for local and national office themselves, including Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton.
But the blurring of those lines isn’t foreign to white churches and clergy. Evangelical icon Pat Robertson mounted an unsuccessful presidential campaign in 1988. Billy Graham counseled several U.S. presidents.
One recent development that factored into this year’s election is the accessibility of church services online. Obama’s congregation produces DVDs of sermons and sells them, making them easy to upload and share on sites like YouTube.
So when the Rev. Jeremiah Wright Jr., Obama’s former pastor, spoke from the pulpit suggesting the government created HIV as a way to exterminate black people and accusing Clinton of insensitivity to black issues, news media easily purchased the recordings and aired them, or just found them online.
Pfleger, a white Catholic priest, clearly was aware of the accessibility of his own words last Sunday when he theatrically accused Clinton of feeling entitled to the presidency because she’s white.
After imitating Clinton crying, he paused and said: “I’m sorry. I don’t wanna get you in any more trouble. The live streaming just went out again.”
Obama said he was deeply disappointed by the language Pfleger used, and Obama supporter Wisconsin Gov. Jim Doyle said, “I don’t think you can in any way attribute it to a candidate” when clergy make “crazy statements.”
But GOP candidate John McCain said the remarks were “unwarranted” and “disgraceful.” Clinton spokesman Howard Wolfson said Friday he still wants Obama to “specifically reject” Pfleger’s remarks about Clinton.
Thomas Reese, a Catholic priest and senior fellow at the Woodstock Theological Center at Georgetown University, said Pfleger is an anomaly, since most Catholic priests don’t mix politics with their church work.
But Reese posited that some of these recent developments are because “the religion issue has become bipartisan.”
He noted that Republicans like Ronald Reagan and George W. Bush knew how to galvanize religious voters, and he said Democrats are starting to catch on.
“I think the American public as a whole want a political leader who’s a believer,” he said.
And he said the more ministers get involved in politics, the more scrutiny they get.
He said Wright, and his “utterly insane” comments, have made the candidates’ ties to clergy a major issue in future elections.
The Wright narrative also played a role in the scrutiny McCain has experienced, Reese said. McCain recently split with Texas pastor John Hagee, whose comments critical of Catholics and gays brought negative attention to McCain’s campaign.
“Now I think that any clergyman who decides to endorse a candidate is going to find that his whole personal life … is going to be open to investigation,” Reese said. “I think it may have the happy result of getting people to think twice before endorsing candidates.”
Democratic strategist Bob Beckel told FOX News that for Obama’s own good, going into the general election, “It’s probably time for Barack Obama to get out (of his church).”
While some may scoff at such intense scrutiny of a candidate’s congregation, Hill, the Temple professor, said voters will benefit from knowing more about a politician’s religious background and place of worship.
“The idea of actually seeing where people worship and who preaches to them on Sunday morning, I think that’s incredibly important, because it gives us a sense of who they are,” he said.
http://elections.foxnews.com/2008/05/31/scrutiny-of-obamas-congregation-could-set-tone-for-future-elections/
