Obama Politics

Barack Obama and Young Evangelicals

From RENW Survey on Young Evangelicals and the Election:

McCain still wins young evangelicals overall, but the margin closes to 62-30 McCain among white evangelicals under age 30 compared to 73-22 McCain among those over the age of 30.

A 32 point McCain advantage with evangelicals under the age of 30 ? That is disappointing. It seems only an elite group (Miller, McLaren, Jones) of evangelical leaders are making the case for Obama and the majority of young evangelicals are not paying attention to these leaders.

Barack Obama and Brian McLaren, part 4

From Why I'm voting for Barack Obama, - Brian McLaren:

Which candidate best understands poverty and economic vulnerability through the closest experience of it? Which one promises to bring the most resources – energy, intelligence, creativity, and commitment – to helping the least of these?

I don’t doubt that Senator McCain would make national defense his top priority as president, and I don’t doubt that he would be most ready to sustain or expand our war-making activities around the world. But I’m ashamed of our nation being known for rushing to war. I would like to be known for helping the poor.

In the end, I truly believe that a nation that helps the poor will have fewer enemies – and therefore more national security – than one that pursues its own national interest through war. As the Apostle Paul said, “Do not look out only for your own personal interests, but also for the interests of others. Your attitude should be that of Christ Jesus.” That other-oriented mindset is, to me, a powerful reason to support Barack Obama for president.

Barack Obama and Rev. Carol Howard Merritt

From You Can’t always get what you need….But you get what you want” by Rev. Carol Howard Merritt « Clergy For Obama:

It is out of my commitment to living out the words of Jesus that I am voting for Barack Obama. It is not because he is a common guy, but it is because, as a community organizer, he has worked on behalf of the ordinary. He understands the need for health care and mortgage relief. He has seen “the least of these.”

Barack or Jesus?

From Jesus for President:

I made up my mind this summer after reading a book by Shane Claiborne and Chris Haw that I would be voting Jesus for President.

Apparently voting for Jesus is a serious option for some in the young liberalish evangelical sub-group of Christianity in the US. This option doesn't seem very practical to me, but I guess that is the whole point: to do something bold without reflecting too much on the consequences. I'm not sure why one cannot both be supporting Obama and at the same time be supporting a more radical Jesus-centric view of life. 

Evangelicals for Obama, part 4

Link

Barack Obama and John Pattison

From a comment by John Pattison -r:

I was on the fence until tonight. I was going to vote for Obama but I was uncomfortable actively working for his election. To paraphrase a friend, it felt like I was erecting empire only to knock it down. But there is too much at stake. If it means being intellectually dishonest for the next 40 days, so be it. I am going to do everything I can to get Obama elected, while trying to maintain a commitment to the poor, to the marginalized, and to "the least of these," and to creation. I hope very much that I have the chance to be a thorn in the side of a President Obama.

Barack Obama and Evangelicals, part 3

Letter to an Evangelical

Barack Obama and Richard Cizik, part 2

From God-o-Meter - A scientific measure of God-talk in the elections:

Evangelicals are 50-percent conservative. There are 10 percent that are liberal, and you've got 40-percent that are swing voters. They're the people that McCain has to worry about because if, for whatever reason--the economy, etc.--they go for Obama, then McCain is in trouble. If they decide to vote on economic reasons or the war, then McCain is in trouble. From what the Obama people have said to me, if they can just get the percentage of people that Clinton got, they'll win this election. If I were a betting man, I would have to say the advantage goes to Obama.

Evangelicals for Obama, part 2

More Evangelicals for Obama products.

Barack Obama and Abortion Reduction

From The Meaning of 'Life', Sojourners Magazine/November 2008:

The abortion-reduction issue became a focal point at both of the national conventions this summer, with the parties moving in opposite directions. The Democrats, pushed by evangelicals, Catholics, and others, added abortion-reduction language to their platform: “We also recognize that ... health care and education help reduce the number of unintended pregnancies and thereby also reduce the need for abortions. The Demo­cratic Party also strongly supports a woman’s decision to have a child by ensuring access to and availability of programs for pre- and post-natal health care, parenting skills, income support, and caring adoption programs.”

The Republican Party, on the other hand, took a step back from abortion-reduction language. As The Wall Street Journal put it, “For all their pro-life pieties, the Republicans at this year’s convention, while asserting their opposition to Roe, dropped platform language that invited ‘all persons of good will, whether across the political aisle or within our party, to work together to reduce the incidence of abortion.’”