Yes, Brody’s pretty much in the tank for Obama, but it’s hard to argue with his judgment that when it comes to religion, the presumptive Democratic nominee always seems a step ahead of the presumptive Republican one. While McCain trudges up the mountain to get the official Graham seal of approval, Obama outflanks him on both faith-based sides, at once pledging to expand the Bush initiative and hewing to the separationist straight and narrow. And then, before the ink on that proposal is dry, Mara Vanderslice’s “independent” (527) Matthew 25 Network is out with an ad for Christian radio that, for all that it smacks of Saturday Night Live’s “Deep Thoughts by Jack Handey,” packs a punch. From the “with all these stones being cast at Senator Obama” to Obama’s own “I submitted myself to His will” to “because we think it’s time for a better Christian witness in politics.”
Brody calls the ad “EXTREMELY strong.” How much does offering a compelling witness to one’s faith matter to evangelicals, as compared with enunciating the right positions on abortion and gay marriage? For quite a few, maybe quite a lot.
And today, it’s Obama in the Belly of the Beast–Colorado Springs–from whence those stones are cast.