Interviewer:Admittedly this is a very clever answer, because he is able to satisfy all his possible constituents. First, he says everything necessary to maintain a critical distance from any real Christian belief. Thus it can be laughed off by party elite as something necessary to American politics at "this stage" in the greater progress of history. Second, he seems to be talking about values or something, so he gives comfort to people who have reduced Christianity to some type of governmental program that demands we redistribute wealth.
Do you believe in sin?
OBAMA:
Yes.
Interviewer:
What is sin?
Interviewer:
Being out of alignment with my values.
It's also worth pointing out the subjectivity of this response. Sin is being out of alignment with his values. But what are his values? Are his values his own, that is, of his creation? Or are they God's values? In which case, should they be everyone else's values too, or did God make different values for different people? How are we to know? Indeed, if we assume his values are of his own creation, than according to his definition, sinning is offending not another person (e.g. God), but only himself. In which case, what bearing should it have on anything at all?
Who the heck knows.
4 comments:
Well, we'll see... I don't pretend to be very clever about how it is that most people decide who to vote for.
It does seem pretty clear to me that if the election was held only among middle class, college education professionals such as myself and those around me, Obama would win in a landslide. However, 60% of the country does not have a college degree, and since I know very few people who don't, I have to assume that the set of people I know aren't all that representative of the country as a whole.
I sat down at the computer last night and watched Obama and McCain's speeches. (Not having a TV at the moment, I'd never actually heard Obama speak since his address at the 2004 Democratic convention.) He's a good speaker, I guess, but the messianic vibe is something I find frankly kind of scarry. He was talking about how people would remember this was the day when we started to care for the sick, give jobs to the jobless, when the oceans stoped rise, the earth began to heal, etc., etc. He didn't mention any plans to walk on water or raise the dead, but I'm sure that's coming soon.
Either way, I suspect the election will be close. And for the all the talk about ending division, I have the feeling that I will be as much an outsider to a potential Obama administration as many progressives feel they have been to the Bush one.
It will be close but Obama still has the problems he has yesterday and that shows up in the electoral college.
We'll see!
I tend to think Obama will win by a large margin largely because of the current level of dissatisfaction associated with Bush and the Republicans in general.
Bush, as Peggy Noonan has argued, ruined the brand name.
But this might not be a very good argument.
I don't see how Obama wins the electoral college. If he does win, it certainly will not be by a large margin.
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