Two questions, four answers from Barack Obama

NELSONVILLE, Ohio -- Memo to presidential candidates: Beware of voters asking double-barreled questions.

Barack Obama got a double dose while campaigning in Ohio this weekend.

The first such query came in the Cleveland suburb of Parma Heights Saturday night at the very end of a lengthy town hall meeting: “My question is about immigration and gay marriage,” stated one young woman. “What are you going to do about it?”

“Are those questions connected?” responded a slightly incredulous Obama. “Gay immigrants? Thank you for those two easy questions.”

Then the Illinois senator launched into a two-pronged answer ...

before deciding that there really is a connection, that it’s not pretty, and  that the Bush administration is to blame.

“Part of what has happened in our politics over the last several years, and this administration has been an expert in it, is making you afraid of each other,” he said to loud cheers.

“So they make you afraid of people who don’t look like you or don’t talk like you or don’t live in the same neighborhoods as you,” he continued. “That kind of divisiveness in politics has to come to an end. We can’t solve our problems with that kind of politics.”

On Sunday in the Appalachian town of Nelsonville, Ohio, where plant closures and the mortgage crisis are rippling through the economy, Pastor Leon Forte aimed his own double barrels at Obama, asking the candidate to explain (a) what he would do about the foreclosure crisis and (b) his faith.

“Your campaign sets a quandary for most evangelical Christians,” Forte, who heads up Grace Christian Center in Athens, Ohio, told Obama. “They believe in the social agenda that you have. They have a problem with what the conservatives have laid out as the moral litmus test about who is worthy and who is not.”

Obama tackled the easy part first -– how to clean up after the burst housing bubble and help struggling Americans keep their homes.

Then he talked about Jesus Christ and his own controversial minister, the Rev. Jeremiah A. Wright Jr. (who has praised Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan), along with same-sex marriage and abortion.

“I am a Christian,” Obama responded in low tones. “I am a devout Christian. I’ve been a member of the same church for 20 years. I pray to Jesus every night and try to go to church as much as I can.”

OK, so these days those hard pews have dug into his back a lot less than usual, considering “I haven’t been home on Sunday for several months now.”

Still, he said, “my faith is important to me. It’s not something that I try to push on other people. But it’s something that helps to guide my life and my values.”

While Obama said he does not believe in same-sex marriage, he argued strongly for civil unions that allow same-sex couples to visit each other in the hospital, let them transfer property to each other and protect them from discrimination. “If people find that controversial, then I would just refer them to the Sermon on the Mount, which, I think, is, in my mind, more central than an obscure passage in Romans,” Obama said.

That likely would be “Blessed are the merciful for they shall receive mercy” over “Men committed indecent acts with other men and received in themselves due penalty for their perversion.”

Obama described abortion Sunday as “always a tragic and painful issue” and said that those who support a woman’s right to choose have “made some mistakes … by not focusing on the fact that there is a real moral element to this.”

But he also emphasized that women do not make decisions about their bodies casually and that it is important to make sure “that young people are engaging in responsible behavior and that we are encouraging the kinds of good decisions that prevent unwanted pregnancies.”

In the end, though, he said “women in consultation with their  pastors and their doctors and their family are in a better position to make these decisions than some bureaucrat in Washington. “

Sure, there are those who would disagree, and Obama said he respects their opinions -- “but I certainly don’t think it makes me less Christian.”

-- Maria L. LaGanga

Comments

[Tom J]

Good, straightforward, honest answers. Exactly what I expect to hear from a President.

[Tina]

It's time for voters and journalists to ask some questions of the candidates about the economic costs of the national security misjudgments of the past few years:

http://acropolisreview.com/2008/03/three-trillion-dollar-iraq-war-stiglitz.html

[theproblemwithcaring]

And this post: a substantive reasonable expression of who he is and what he stands for, what he believes in and what he will FIGHT for (not arcane policy-speak attached to legislation that won't get passed.)

AND IT GETS IGNORED, by the commenters.

Yes. I am still confidant that what I believed as a young girl in rural Mississippi is still holds true. We are the changed we’ve been waiting for, but America ain’t ready:

http://tinyurl.com/yps8x9

[Amin]

Betty Martin, please get your facts right before making false charges against anyone.

Don't repeat everything negative you hear about Sen Obama, because you are supporting his opponent.

This is the type of politricks that we need to change in this country.

[Dick B.]

What a bunch of baloney! No straight talk here and it's part of the foundation of sand Obama's entire campaign is built on.

[Charlotte]

FYI, Hillary Clinton was key in passing Gay Marriage in Massachusetts by having her campaign manager, Terry McAuliffe, quietly calling legislators to sway their votes. Obama did nothing....Marriage is a basic civil right that should be attainable by all Americans. For the truth about gay marriage check out our trailer. Produced to educate & defuse the controversy it has a way of opening closed minds & provides some sanity on the issue: www.OUTTAKEonline.com

[roy c, bennett]

HEY FOLKS, NOW OUR COMMENTS HAVE TO BE APPROVED. HAS THE EDITORS EVER HEARD OF THE CONSTITUTION??

(AM responds: Yes, they has. Comments here have always had to be approved. Because of that same Constitution, you're free to leave them anytime you like. Or not.)