Crowd Eventually Warmed to Obama at Faith Forum
(CBS)
(LAKE FOREST, CA.) - It’s no secret that Barack Obama has been aggressively courting evangelical voters, but his appearance at the presidential forum at Saddleback Church Saturday night was a clear indication that Christian voters can be a tough bunch.
For starters, Pastor Rick Warren, one of America's most prominent evangelical ministers, was clearly in control of the forum. Although he was cordial, calling both Obama and John McCain his friends, he asked tough questions and didn’t let Obama veer off into his stump.
“Don’t give me your stump speech on these,” Warren told Obama when he asked him about domestic issues.
Warren also often signaled Obama to wrap up his answers at times when it looked like he could veer off onto a tangent. He would give an “uh” or glance at his notes, indicating that Obama needed to speed things up.
The audience at Saddleback was equally as tough as Warren. They respectfully applauded for Obama when he came out on stage, but during the first half of the program, they only clapped a few times. However, as Obama began to express a more conservative position on issues such as marriage, the audience noticeably perked up.
“I believe that marriage is the union between a man and a woman,” Obama said as the crowd applauded, adding that “God’s in the mix.”
Obama’s lines on building bridges across “partisan, racial, and religious lines” also garnered a lot of applause and even a standing ovation at the end.
And when Warren asked Obama to defend his line of questioning, Obama happily obliged. “One of the things if you are a person of faith like me, I believe that things will work out and we will get the president that we need,” Obama said and later added, “I trust in the American people, they are going to make a good decision.”
Secondly, there was no "standing ovation at the end." At the end of BOTH candidates'' period, Warren INSTRUCTED the audience to stand and thank the candidate.
(1) There was not discussion of McCain in this article.
(2) Obama equivoquated the whole evening, never wishing to give a direct answer - his answer as to babies receiving human rights should have been that he places it in the hands of the mother to decided (thus supporting pro-choice) instead of saying it was above his pay grade - I''m sorry, but as President, the buck stops with there.
(3) The audience was already standing for McCain prior to being told to stand (unlike for Obama).
(4) McCain had convection and principles in his answers - they were not rehearsed - he knows what he believes (and not just using catchy words such as ''change'' and ''hope'' - btw, how is ''hope'' audacious?
(5) This is why Obama does not accept the challenge to town hall meetings - he must speak off of the cuff and he is AFRAID to offend someone and hence talks for 5-7 minutes when 20 seconds would have done.
(6) Obama is not a solution for anything, unless you have no courage, moral conviction, honor or princples.
Was this supposed to be an article about the event that was organized by Rick Warren or about Senator Obama?
If it was the former, why couldn''t your reporter say anything about Sen. McCain?
I am undecided, but if this is the way CBS reports the election it is clear that this reporter and network is 100% for Obama. It has decided and is no longer reporting but campaigning.
Well, Obscamma evidently lied right there in church...he has giddly supported Same *** Unions, and used the Sermon on the Mount to try to justify it.
Secondly, there was no "standing ovation at the end." At the end of BOTH candidates'''' period, Warren INSTRUCTED the audience to stand and thank the candidate.
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Posted by GonzoML at 09:05 AM : Aug 17, 2008
LMAO! Exactly! It''s all about nuance and innuendo when it comes to Obscamma! ANYTHING, any word they can use that projects support, they will use to scam you!
In control??--the man couldn''t shut up for more than 3-4 seconds. You''d have thought it was an interview of Rick Warren. Especially with Obama, every time Obama started to answer, Warren was jumping in with "uh-hu", "ok" and other interruptions. He was quite a bit quieter with McCain, as if he was trying to show off McCain in his best light (still pretty poor).
If we wanted to hear Warren spout off, we''d listen to his sermons. Some sky pilots just can''t shut up.
Well said!
One Young, one old.
One cerebral, one from the hip.
One sincere, one rehearsed.
1. he has a temper
2. he told the Religious Right off to their faces, after he was no longer a candidate in 2000
3. he TOSSED a wife (who worked 5 years for his release from North Viet Nam), after she was disfigured and disabled after a near fatal car crash, along with 2 adopted sons and a daughter. He also got his 2nd marriage license to his blonde 15 year younger pillionaire, a MONTH before his divorce was finalised.
While Cheney and Rove laughed with disdain as clueless trusting Evangelicals left their offices with NOTHING, year, after year, after year, even they didn''t tell them off publicly.
These facts will matter if McCain becomes president, he''ll TOSS you Evangelicals in a heart beat. He also won''t invite you back any other year. He''ll do this for SPITE.
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by jamwao
August 19, 2008 5:09 AM PDT
- I did not sense that the crowd warmed up to Barack Obama. It seemed to me that both candidates were treated the same all the way through. I sensed no favoritism on the basis of party or person. On the point of answers there were times when the crowd cheered for both, and they clapped for both. It seemed to be more about the answers they gave then which party they were from. That was probably the most well conducted forum I have ever witnessed on TV. I really appreciated the way Rick Warren kept things on track and his respect for both men was obvious.
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