Belated Review of Sojourners Faith and Politics Forum


I was finally able to watch in full the Sojourner's "A Presidential Forum on Faith, Values and Poverty." So this is a very belated response to the presentations given by Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, and John Edwards. Let me get my bone to pick out of the way right up front -- Soledad O'Brien was the wrong person to do this. She was difficult to take seriously.
But as reported here and elsewhere, each of the candidates got their 15 minutes to respond to questions asked by the moderator, by Jim Wallis, and a five member panel that included persons from across the Christian religious spectrum. My General Minister Sharon Watkins asked John Edwards about his prayer life. Baptist pastor Joel C. Hunter, who dropped out of being head of the Christian Coalition after he discovered it just wanted to be a two-note group asked Hillary Clinton about her view of abortion. I hear there has been some controversy about that, but I found her to be refreshingly open on the need to bridge the gap between pro-choice and pro-life.
Jim Wallis asked both Edwards and Obama questions about poverty, while the head of Catholic Charities essentially asked that question of Hillary.
My sense of what happened. On style points Obama was focused on specifics -- I was especially impressed with his statements on helping ex-cons find their place in society (though as mentioned in an earlier post his answer to the Israel/Palestinian question was confused at best -- he was also the only person to answer that question). Hillary seemed the most relaxed and seemed to have the most fun on the set. I was impressed by her demeanor. She looked and sounded presidential. I think she'll do fine if she runs in the General Election.
Of the three, I found Edwards the least polished and focused. He seemed too intent on telling us what he's been doing these past several years. He is committed to dealing with poverty and he has put poverty on the map, but . . . I guess that $400 haircut kept coming to mind. And he also sounded too much like he wanted us to know that he's a good old Christian boy -- he must have used the word "Lord" ten times. Ironically it was Obama who was the least demonstrative about faith. He connected faith to policy but didn't wear it on his sleeve. Part of that stemmed from the fact that he didn't get asked the same kind of "personal" spiritual" questions as the other two.
So, here's my take. Obama and Hillary are now in a two horse race to the end. I think Edwards will start fading quickly from now on. He has good things to say, but his passion is too focused. It's an important focus, but both Obama and Hillary seem to have a better grasp of what's going on globally.
So that's that!!

Comments

Anonymous said…
Edwards is still ahead in polls in Iowa and N.H. Don't count him out.
Of the big three, he is still the one with the concrete plans and means to pay for them and the most progressive agenda. I say this as one who was not impressed with him in '04.

The $400 haircut is a red herring. GOP folks spend that much all the time and so did Bill Clinton in office. Hypocritical? Yes. But I would rather have a rich dude as president who is slightly hypocritical, but still is driven to abolish poverty than all those who just don't care about it. Hillary, like Bill, never mentions the poor--just the Middle Class upon whom her trade policies make war. Obama is sometimes focused on the poor, but he doesn't have firm PLANS on anything. Stirring rhetoric isn't enough.
Edwards is the first top-tier candidate of either party to focus on poverty since Bobby Kennedy ran in '68. I don't trust Hillary any further than I could throw her. Obama I trust, but he seems to need more seasoning.
Robert Cornwall said…
Michael,

On the hair cut, I just had to throw it out there. I do think that Edwards does have good ideas on poverty, but it seems like a one issue candidacy.

Hillary is Hillary -- I'm not thrilled to have another Clinton in office. Was reading just today about our seeming move toward oligarchy.

Now, I've jumped on the Obama bandwagon, of course. But, while seasoning might be helpful, Edwards really doesn't have any more public service experience than he does. His plans are coming and I think he'll surround himself with good people.

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