January 3, 2011 9:52 AM
Obama tries to establish Christian connection
Quelle surprise! After his own election, I guess he thought it was cool to just be himself. Now he knows better and so the phony props: military base visits, going to church.Obama Tries to Reassert His Christian Bona Fides, With Words and Deeds
January 3, 2011Barack Obama went to church Sunday near the end of his holiday respite in his native Hawaii, worshiping at a multidenominational service at a chapel at Marine Corps Base Hawaii just as he did the previous Sunday.
And this is news, you ask?
Actually, yes it is, when it marks the first time the Obama family has worshiped in church on two straight Sundays since Obama's election, and when you are a struggling president facing re-election after a year in which growing numbers of Americans -- as many as 1 in 5 -- thought he was a Muslim, while more than half felt Obama's religious views were different from their own.
Moreover, resurgent Republicans and conservative activists continue to raise doubts about Obama's religious views as a way to sow doubts about his commitment to American values.
In early December, for example, 41 Republicans -- and one Democrat -- who are members of the Congressional Prayer Caucus wrote to Obama asking why he told an audience in Indonesia during a trip there that the phrase "E pluribus unum" (Latin for, "from many, one") was the national motto instead of "In God We Trust."
"E pluribus unum" was adopted by Congress in 1782 and was considered the nation's unofficial motto, appearing on coins and banknotes since 1795. In 1956, at the height of the Cold War, Congress passed a law establishing "In God We Trust" as the official national motto, just as Congress had added the phrase "under God" to the Pledge of Allegiance in 1954.
In his speech in Indonesia, Obama used the phrase "E pluribus unum" to underscore that in Indonesia, as in America, "hundreds of millions who hold different beliefs can be united in freedom under one flag."
The Prayer Caucus letter also referred to three earlier occasions when Obama cited the second line of the Declaration of Independence -- "that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights" -- but did not mention "Creator." Conservative activists ran with it, portraying the phrasing as evidence that Obama doesn't adhere to standard religious, namely Christian, beliefs -- charges that the White House called "silly."
But if the accusations strain credulity, they can also affect public perceptions. So it was likely no coincidence that during the holidays the president seemed to take every opportunity to put the "Christ" in Christmas.
During the lighting of the National Christmas Tree on Dec. 9, Obama repeatedly referred to the birth of Christ and pointedly said the Nativity is "a story that's dear to Michelle and me as Christians." And at a Christmas benefit concert a few days later, the president spoke of how "a child born in a stable brought our world a redeeming gift of peace and salvation," and he called it "a message that guides my Christian faith."
Stephen Mansfield, author of "The Faith of Barack Obama," told Religion News Service that the polls about views of Obama's faith "had to be a wake-up call to the White House."
Politico's Carol E. Lee also tracked Obama's recent religious rhetoric and says that he has used the phrase "Christian faith" more in the past three months than he has over the past year. He also took his family to church in Washington in September, as the midterm campaign was heating up, along with controversies over the Islamic center in Lower Manhattan and suspicions about Obama's faith.
Read more at Politics Daily
What next? Will he give up golf like Bush did in honor of our troops? Any other ideas what changes we'll see in Obama in 2011 as he ramps up his run for 2012?
Love,
Posted in 2012 elections, Obama Nation | Permalink
Comments
I'm not buying it.
Posted by: Chrissy | January 3, 2011 10:29 AM
