I survived Orientation.

civil forum: it's over

ok, the civil forum at saddleback church is now over. it was interesting, but not as illuminating as i thought it might be. Most of what I heard from either candidate was stuff I already knew or expected. I did appreciate Warren's focus on a wide range of issues. I think this really will surprise the mainstream media that expected this to be about religion, instead of what it was about ---- values, worldview, life experience, perspective. So, the real winner here, is Warren.

I'm looking forward to the analysis. I hope there is more of Roland.

civil forum: mccain

McCain's answers on abortion, gay marriage, evil (defined in his words as Osama Bin Laden and radical Islam) are pretty stock Republican but expressed with conviction. For black/white voters, this will be appealing.

Obama at least got a bit more nuanced in his answers. It remains to be seen how this will impact him. Even though he is pro-choice, he expressed acknowledgment of the moral and ethical difficulty and respect for the views of the other side. McCain's position doesn't allow for this. I think Obama's answer on gay marriage is definitely going to be sticky. This is an issue where both sides are pretty committed to their positions and often unwilling to accept any type of middle ground because they see it as giving up their necessary definition of marriage and the rights given.


Warren's asking McCain to define rich. "Rich should be defined as a home, a good education, a job, and an ability to hand off to our children a better more prosperous world." Interesting. This is followed by a statement that he doesn't believe in redistribution.

civil forum

McCain's heroes of wisdom are:
generals
soldiars
entrepenuers

vs. Obama's:

Michelle
grandmother
i can't remember the last one. I think it was a pretty general answer.

Interesting contrast. I'm glad Michelle made the list :)

Wow, I'm actually really impressed with McCain's second and third answers. He admits that his greatest moral failure is the collapse of his first marriage. The greatest moral failure of America ---- instead of going out shopping after 9/11, we should have gotten involved in service. I agree with that principle, thought probably wouldn't place emphasis on the military as he does.

McCain - what issue did you change your mind on in the last 10 years (because of new information)?

WHAT? Off-shore drilling. hmmmm. Argument about national security.

civil forum, not faith forum

Obama is over. I just realized that this forum is actually called a "civil forum" ---- not a faith forum as it was billed in the mainstream media.

Obama and McCain on stage together. awkward.

Back to the title of the forum, I think this says a lot. Warren seems to be intentional about putting the focus on civil discourse from a faith perspective and trying to give Obama/McCain rare opportunities to go deeper and possibly be a bit vulnerable. I'm not sure that has really happened yet. Unfortunately, it's really hard at this stage of the game for either of them to drop their masks (no matter how noble these masks may be.)

faith forum: gay marriage

second break with Obama.

I was surprised with Obama's answer on gay marriage. His answer did not seem to jive with what I know of Obama's support of the LGBTQ community. It was, though, a good middle of the road answer and argument to evangelicals about how civil unions for gays will not hurt or challenge "marriage." It seems that he made a calculated move to answer the question in a way to further align himself with evangelicals. But I know it will raise red-flags with a lot of his gay supporters. It definitely took me off guard. I wonder what the fallout will be.