LAKE FOREST, Calif., August 16, 2008
McCain, Obama Meet At Faith Forum
Candidates Make First Joint Appearance, Share Hug At Forum With Pastor Rick Warren
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Republican presidential candidate Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., left, is greeted by Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., right, while Pastor Rick Warren looks on during a non-debate forum at the Saddleback Church in Lake Forest, Calif. on Saturday Aug. 16, 2008. (AP)
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Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., waves with Pastor Rick Warren during the Saddleback Forum in Lake Forrest, Calif. Saturday, Aug. 16, 2008. (AP)
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Republican presidential candidate, Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., during the Compassion Forum at the Saddleback Church, Saturday, Aug. 16, 2008 in Lake Forest, Calif. (AP)
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Play CBS Video Video Pastor With A Purpose Pastor Rick Warren is doing what no one else has, bringing both presidential candidates together for a forum at his mega-church as he seeks to expand the Evangelical agenda. Ben Tracy reports.
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Video Courting The Evangelical Vote Pastor Rick Warren of the giant Saddleback Church in Calif. has invited Barack Obama and John McCain to speak at a televised forum on evangelical issues. Harry Smith reports.
Appearing on the same stage for the first time in months, although they overlapped only briefly, the two men shared their views on a range of moral, foreign and domestic issues.
"After weeks of trying to define each other, this was a chance for the candidates to define themselves," said CBSNews.com senior political editor Vaughn Ververs. "And while there weren't any major revelations, their answers tonight on a variety of issues are going to be mined by friend and foe alike as this campaign heads forward."
Obama said he would limit abortions in the late stages of pregnancy if there are exceptions for the mother's health. He said he knew that people who consider themselves pro-life will find his stance "inadequate."
He said the government should do more to prevent unwanted pregnancies and to help women who give birth, such as provide needed resources to the poor, as well as better adoption services.
McCain expressed his anti-abortion stand simply and quickly, saying human rights begin the instant that a human egg is fertilized. McCain, who adopted a daughter from Bangladesh, also called for making adoption easier.
Their comments came at a two-hour forum on faith hosted by the minister Rick Warren at his megachurch in Orange County, Calif. Obama joined Warren for the first hour, and Obama for the second. The two men briefly shook hands and hugged each other during the switch.
Warren asked both men the same questions. McCain said he did not see or hear Obama's session, which might have given him an advantage.
Obama said America's greatest moral failure is its insufficient help to the disadvantaged. He noted that the Bible quotes Jesus as saying "whatever you do for the least of my brothers, you do for me." He said the maxim should apply to victims of poverty, sexism and racism.
McCain said the nation's greatest moral shortcoming is its failure to "devote ourselves to causes greater than our self-interests."
After the September 2001 terrorist attacks, McCain said, there should have been a national push for joining the Peace Corps and other volunteer organizations. His comment seemed an indirect criticism of President Bush, who had urged tax cuts and more shopping to stimulate the economy at the time.
He also said he would pursue Osama bin Laden "to the gates of Hell," another goal that might be seen as a swipe at Bush's administration.
Both men said marriage is a union between a man and a woman. Obama added that he supports civil unions for gay partners, giving them rights such as hospital visits with one another.
In several cases, Obama gave a Christian interpretation to his generally liberal political views. He showed some familiarity with the Scripture, and said Jesus died for his sins.
McCain tended to give shorter, less complex answers. On domestic matters, he restated his call to "drill now" in U.S. lands and waters for oil and natural gas.
When Warren asked Obama to define the word "rich," the Illinois senator teased him about the mammoth sales of his book, "The Purpose Driven Life." He noted his plan to add a Social Security payroll tax to incomes above $250,000 a year.
McCain said, "some of the richest people I've ever known in my life are the most unhappy."
He said being rich should be defined by having a home and a prosperous and safe world. Without mentioning Obama, he said some want to increase taxes.
"I don't want to take any money from the rich. I want everybody to get rich," McCain said. "I don't want to raise anybody's taxes. I really don't."
When pushed on an exact number, he turned to his humor. "If you're just talking about income, how about five million?" he joked, before pivoting to clarify: "I'm sure that comment will be distorted."
Asked to name three wise people they would listen to, Obama named his wife, Michelle; his maternal grandmother, who lives in Hawaii; and, not limiting himself to only a third, named several Democratic and Republican lawmakers.
McCain named Gen. David Petreaus, head of U.S. troops in Iraq; U.S. Rep. and veteran civil rights leader John Lewis, D-Ga.; and former eBay CEO Meg Whitman, a top adviser to his campaign.
He lauded her as a woman who took a five-person business into a billion-dollar piece of the economy. "It's one of these great economic success stories," McCain said.
Obama, asked his most significant policy shift in the last 10 years, cited welfare reform. As an Illinois state senator, he worked to mitigate what he thought could be "disastrous" effects of President Clinton's welfare reform effort, but over time came to embrace Clinton's approach.
"We have to have work as a centerpiece of any social policy," Obama said.
The forum carried opportunities and risks for both candidates. It gave Obama a chance to discuss his Christian faith and counter inaccurate beliefs that he is a Muslim. But it also may have highlighted his positions on issues such as supporting abortion rights, which Warren and many other evangelicals oppose.
McCain's positions are more in line with evangelical Christians. But he often seems uncomfortable talking about his faith and other personal beliefs, and the Christian right shows less enthusiasm for him than for past GOP contenders.
According to Saddleback Church officials, there are 2,200 people in the main room and a total of 4,200 including those watching from satellite locations.
©MMVIII, CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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- Barack - Blessed of Allah
Hussein - Supreme Leader
Obama - Kenyan family name
Profession: Politician
Education: Harvard Law School
Work experience in the private sector: None
Management or command experience: None - Reply to this comment
- America for the first Time got to see Obama , and they dont like it. Mccain will tear apart Obama in the debates. It was a good thing Obama did not take Mccain offer to do 10 townhall meetings. Obama finally has confirmed to America that he is an empty suite. Obama can dance, he dance around questions like no one.
- Reply to this comment
- bigwhtpony, There might be something a lot better than impeachment in store for Bush.
After his term in office is over, he might have to get used to the color ORANGE.
- Reply to this comment
- If Obama is an honest politician he needs to explain to America his vote three times to legalize the neglecting of a born baby until it dies of natural causes.
Hundred years ago the English practicied infanticide during one of their ugliest periods. More recently natives of the Hawaiian Islands practiced it to ensure that all surviving babies were physically perfect. Obama''s support of infanticide is the more remarkable when you consider that at one time in the land where he grew up, he would have had his head smashed on a rock. So sad that he is so callous that he thinks that that is okay, and that the decision is "above his pay grade". - Reply to this comment
- the president that made lying as American as apple pie. Posted by jon2012 at 01:39 PM : Aug 18, 2008
Prove it. Why is he not impeached? Why is he not investigated? Because, like your skull, democrats have NOTHING. - Reply to this comment
- Posted by nirak2 at 01:34 PM : Aug 18, 2008
In the words of the mortal John Lennon, ''the dream is over''. Start facing reality. If you think Ubama is a ''honest politician'', then you must be about 16 years old. - Reply to this comment
- It''''s hard for you Repugs to recognize an honest politician.
Posted by nirak2 at 01:34 PM : Aug 18, 2008
Seriously, is honesty even a Christian value? Christians had lot to do with giving Bush the White House the last two elections, the president that made lying as American as apple pie. - Reply to this comment
- I voted for George W Bush in 2000 and 2004 and will happily vote for John McCain in 2008 WITHOUT THINKING.
Posted by johnpotus
It doesn''t appear you ever vote with your brain engaged. - Reply to this comment
- bigwhtpony
It''s hard for you Repugs to recognize an honest politician. - Reply to this comment
- You would think a good christian as Obama is , he would not miss one sunday.
Posted by obama8years at 12:14 PM : Aug 18, 2008
We want a president for all Americans, not just for all Christian Americans. - Reply to this comment
- Anyone who is even remotely intellectually honest could see that Ubama looked bad. This was a hands down McCain win.
Ubama fans really need to start worrying about November. - Reply to this comment
- LostCause9
You must have had a Lobotamy and that I am sorry for.
LOL - Reply to this comment
- Is a Limo and a Hotel Room with TV the New Cone of Silence?
Republicans can''t do anything that is honest and above board and Preacher Warren is not any better. - Reply to this comment
NYT Backs Up NBC: McCain Was Not In "Cone Of Silence" Before Saddleback
Last night, John McCain''s campaign manager Rick Davis sent a strongly-worded letter to NBC News president Steve Capus, complaining about "unsubstantiated, partisan claims" on the network made "in order to undercut John McCain."
The claim in question was made by Andrea Mitchell on yesterday''s broadcast of "Meet the Press," while discussing McCain and Obama''s respective performances during the Saddlebeck Forum on Faith led by Pastor Rick Warren. The full quote is as follows:
MITCHELL: The Obama people must feel that he didn''t do quite as well as they might have wanted to in that context, because that %u2014 what they''re putting out privately is that McCain may not have been in the cone of silence and may have had some ability to overhear what the questions were to Obama.... He seemed so well-prepared.
You know I can see where some people would read this and say, "It''s just sour grapes."
Others recognize the trend.
(cont)- Reply to this comment
- (cont)
Remeber McCain''s ''independent'' town hall meeting:
McCain Stacks Fox News ''Town Hall'' With Supporters
June 12, 2008
Tonight was the first in a much-hyped series of ''town hall'' forums scheduled by John McCain''s campaign, in which Barack Obama had been challenged to show up to discuss the issues directly with the GOP nominee.
Except, as Fox News reported, McCain''s campaign misled the public about the nature of the event. The forum was "billed by the McCain campaign as a town hall with independent and Democratic voters," but Fox News noted at the end that the audience was actually "made up of invited guests and McCain supporters.
Tao Texan Ching: Watch what the do, not what they say. - Reply to this comment
- Little wonder the Barack Hussein Obama crowd thought McCain was "so well prepared". He WAS, compared to BHO!!! Obama is running a flim-flam on the American people, appealing with all style and no substance. I''m betting even money as of right now that he won''t even be the nominee. Knowledgeable Dems are shaken and worried. They know BHO is a con, an empty suit. All the ghetto jive that made him important in Chicago doesn''t work on the national stage. Thank God there is still a middle-America that can''t relate to that ***.
- Reply to this comment
- How come they didn''t have the other candidates? What a messed up system.. If they are not democraps or Repugs then they can not debate.. SICK AND WRONG!!!!
- Reply to this comment
- The problem with Obama poll numbers, is that more people are getting to know the real Obama. Someone who chooses his words carefully. Obama wants to be real careful he does not upset his Liberal Base or slip out any Rev Wright Black Liberation Theology. 20 years of Rev Wrights messages would get to you. Notice when the preacher said racist and anti-american remarks the audience went wild. Clapping and standing, I wonder if Obama was standing and clapping with them. You would think a good christian as Obama is , he would not miss one sunday.
- Reply to this comment
- I voted for George W Bush in 2000 and 2004 and will happily vote for John McCain in 2008 WITHOUT THINKING.
Posted by johnpotus
PEOPLE LIKE YOU ARE THE REASON WHY JEWS GET KILLED - Reply to this comment
- If elected Obama doesn''''t want women to be called by their given names. He wants all women to be called "sweetie".
Obama is a misogynist. - Reply to this comment
