Candidate Forum

The Candidates Forum with Rick Warren at Saddleback Church just ended. I watched almost every minute and took at lot of notes of their comments and my impressions. Here are some summary impressions:

Both candidates looked comfortable with Pastor Warren and in the church setting - though it later became apparent the in-church audience was predictably very much pro-McCain. So McCain spoke to a much more sympathetic audience and it may have shaped the way he framed some of his answers.

Comparing their answers on some important topics:

FAITH -- Obama spoke more completely and easily of his personal faith and especially of how it might apply to his CURRENT life. He was the only candidate approximate a quote of scripture. In this case, Micah 6:8, “He has showed you, O man, what is good. And what does the LORD require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.” McCain gave a straight-forward answer about faith in Jesus means that he is saved but he quickly took a drink and ended his answer. He gave his first of many anecdotal stories and of course its setting was decades ago in Viet Nam. Moving but dated. Though it almost definitely appealed to his core constituency - older patriots.

ABORTION -- Obama stayed true to his liberal democratic pro-abortion position but tried to soften it in this context. Implied that he did not believe life begins at conception. McCain gave a more straight-forward conservative answer: pro-life and life begins at conception. He said that he would be a pro-life president and said, “I make this commitment to you.” His people obviously advised him that the evangelical voters have noticed his apparent wavering so this was an important nail-down for him. In fact, the McCain campaign even emailed CNN immediately following the forum to say that they would no longer mention the idea of a pro-abortion VP. This was the key question and answer in the debate - especially for McCain.

MARRIAGE -- Obama and McCain gave the same answer - defined marriage the same way, both supported civil unions and both took a states-rights approach to legislation. McCain allowed for a Constitutional Amendment only if federal legislation “imposed on Arizona the laws of Massachusetts.”

STEM CELLS - Obama and McCain gave very similar answers.

SUPREME COURT - they each predictably support the justices that agree with their political viewpoint and don’t support the others.

EVIL -DOES IT EXIST AND WHAT SHOULD WE DO WITH IT? Obama took a thoughtful and philosophical approach to his answer -- he touched on local evil, evil in America, evil in families (abuse) and societal evil like the genocide in Darfur. We have to ‘confront’ evil and do it humbly. McCain was direct and forceful - ‘we should defeat evil’ - but was entirely internationally focussed. State sponsored or terrorist organization based evil was his focus.

FAITH BASED ORGANIZATIONS BEING ABLE TO LIMIT HIRING to people who agree with the faith principles of the organization. Obama - in the program area in which federal funds are received, the faith organization must adhere to ‘non-discrimination’ employment laws. McCain - organization can limit employment and still get funds.

RELIGIOUS PERSECUTION AROUND THE WORLD -- Obama took time to answer and gave a fair answer. Aside from an opening remark about 'the bully pulpit,' McCain did not answer the question but reverted to something about Reagan, patriotism or war or the flag or honor or some Republican code-word and the audience of mostly Christians (presumably) gave him applause!!! Oh my!

Other topic were covered but essentially each candidate stuck to his core principles on his answers. There was no blockbuster moment - no surprising answer. I thought McCain knew he was on a home court and took liberties to speak to that crowd in language that would be well received. The net net is that McCain played to a very sympathetic audience in the room and no doubt in the TV audience as well. He had to shore up that vote and this appearance helped him that effort. My guess is that most of the Obama supporters in the TV audience did not wait around for McCain’s answers - especially when the in-church audience proved to be so vocally supportive of McCain from the moment of his entrance.

Obama was candid, conversational, and true to himself. He probably neither gained nor lost much among most of the audience.

McCain had the better night. He had the most to gain or lose with the core audience. The core audience was not made up of Obama supporters -- it was made up of disappointed Republicans and luke-warm or reluctant McCain supporters. His campaign team knew that this event was his best opportunity to shore up these disaffected evangelicals. I give the nod to McCain who, honestly, did much better than I thought that he would.