Tonight’s live, televised discussion between Pastor Rick Warren and presidential contenders John McCain and Barack Obama, separately addressing the same questions, cannot be described as anything other than a home run for Sen. McCain.
McCain was clear, forceful, persuasive and wrapped up his policy conclusions in a coherent worldview that is founded in his Christian faith, and rooted in the biblical principle of unselfishness taught by Jesus — to love others by “serving a cause greater than yourself.”
Sen. Obama deserves credit for going after voters that past Democratic candidates have seemed to alienate on purpose. He came across as thoughtful and sincere about his own faith and comfortable citing Scripture. I think he’s a nice guy. But for evangelicals and for many other Americans, that cannot overcome his hesitancy, equivocation and confusion about how to apply even his own principles to specific policy issues.
This was most clear in his desire to quote Jesus’ priority that we should care about “the least of these.” Moments later, he declared himself unable to figure out when human babies should have rights, and rededicated himself instead to preserving the “right” to abortion on demand. His failure to recognize a human child in the process of birth as among “the least of these” rendered his reference to that passage entirely meaningless.
Ironically, for someone so committed to a mantra of “change” and “hope,” Sen. Obama’s approach is not new or hopeful. He seems more focused on America’s failings than her virtues — which is simply a return to the liberal “blame America first” mentality that spelled electoral defeat for numerous Democratic presidential candidates. Given the chance to discuss evil, Sen. McCain talked about Osama bin Laden and 9/11 and the importance of defeating evil enemies bent on our destruction. Obama said, in essence, that because there is evil in America we should be hesitant to draw conclusions about evil in other places.
In a dangerous world, that hesitancy spells defeat and retreat — a frightening prospect for all those around the world who recognize that even a flawed America is the world’s last, best hope for the advance of freedom.
By contrast, Sen. McCain was clear and unequivocal. His anecdotes from a remarkable life — of decisions made in the crucible of a prisoner of war camp, of his and Cindy’s own adoption of an orphan from Bangladesh — resonated emotionally with an evangelical audience.
More importantly, he was able to apply faith, experience and reason to reach coherent conclusions on important policy issues, from national security to the appointment of judges to the protection of innocent human life.
With his clear answers on abortion, judges, national security, taxes, and government spending, as contrasted to Obama’s confusion, equivocation and wrong conclusions, I cannot imagine how any independent, conservative or evangelical could be anywhere other than firmly and enthusiastically behind Sen. McCain.