President Obama's administration is seen as more friendly toward religion than the Democratic Party as a whole, a new Pew poll has found.
Thirty-seven percent of Americans said they view Obama as religion-friendly, while only 29% said they see the Democratic Party that way, according to the poll.
The findings aren't surprising. During his campaign for the presidency, Obama courted religious voters more aggressively than most recent Democratic presidential candidates by putting faith front and center.
In July 2008, during the height of the presidential race, then-Sen. Obama pledged to expand a controversial White House program that gives federal grants to churches and small community groups.
Later that summer, during a forum at evangelical Pastor Rick Warren's Saddleback Church in Orange County, Obama, who is Christian, spoke of "walking humbly with our God" and quoted from the Gospel of Matthew.
It paid off.
Forty-three percent of voters who said they attend church weekly chose Obama over Republican John McCain, according to the National Election Pool exit survey, a change from recent election trends, in which religious voters overwhelmingly chose Republican candidates. Among occasional worshipers, Obama won 57% of the vote.
The Pew poll found that the Republican Party is still seen as friendlier toward religion than either Obama or the Dems. Forty-eight percent of those polled viewed the GOP as friendly toward religion.
The poll, which was conducted in August by the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life and the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press, also asked people about their views of the news media, scientists and Hollywood related to religion.
Fourteen percent of voters said they view the news media as friendly toward religion, and 12% said they view scientists that way. Only 11% said they see Hollywood as friendly toward religion.
-- Kate Linthicum
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Photo: Then-Sen. Obama, left, appears at a forum in August 2008 with Pastor Rick Warren at Warren's Saddleback Church in Lake Forest, Calif. Warren led the invocation at Obama's inauguration in January. Credit: Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times
President Obama speaks tonight on his latest new strategy for Afghanistan reportedly involving, in part, the dispatch of additional U.S. troops to join the 68,000 already there.
Meanwhile, with the holidays approaching and millions of Americans, both civilian and military, traveling, a private group of citizens has organized a campaign for those of us at home to express our sincere appreciation when encountering members of the volunteer U.S. military.
It's a simple hand gesture not unlike the Iraqi motion of touching your heart as a sign of sincerity when greeting someone.
Remember that Budweiser commercial where, one by one, airport travelers spontaneously began applauding soldiers as the soldiers walked by? This is feel-good like that, only silent.
Take a look at their brief video. And think about it.
Of course, it's easier if you're not doing any of the cooking yourself. Or turkey carving. Or serving.
So President Obama only had about 50 folks over to the White House for Thanksgiving dinner tonight. During the day the president called 10 military members around the world to wish them a happy holiday.
If you've just consumed your own feast, though, maybe save and read this later. If you're still on the appetizers, go ahead and peruse what's coming in the next two paragraphs.
Here, according to the White House, is what the president had for Thanksgiving dinner:
Turkey and honey-baked ham and cornbread stuffing and oyster stuffing and greens and macaroni and cheese and sweet potatoes and mashed potatoes and green bean casserole and banana cream pie and pumpkin pie and apple pie and sweet potato pie and huckleberry pie and cherry pie.
We are told, Washington style for background, that the president's favorite items are the turkey and pumpkin pie.
Hopefully, Obama has some presidential Pepcid on hand and the commander in chief will be out of the gastronomic coma in time for his 40-minute Tuesday evening speech on Afghanistan from West Point.
Just as former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin was wowing crowds in a book tour for "Going Rogue," her one-time almost son-in-law Levi Johnston -- the father of her grandson, Tripp -- celebrated a publication of his own -- full-length photos in the nude for Playgirl Magazine.
Palin, who does not mention Johnston in her book, told Oprah that she considers his poses porn.
"By the way, I don't know if we call him Levi -- I hear he goes by the name Ricky Hollywood now, so, if that's the case, we don't want to mess up this gig he's got going," she said. "Kind of this aspiring, aspiring porn -- the things that he's doing. It's kind of heartbreaking."
As for Johnston's relationship with his son, Palin said: "He hasn't seen the baby for a while, but we will let that be the discussion between Bristol and Levi, as they work out their relationship. Because Levi will forever be the father of this beautiful little baby, and I continue to hope for the best, and pray for Levi."
Asked if he would be invited to Thanksgiving, Palin said, "He is part of the family...This can all work out for good."
Johnston has already generated some political heat by saying, in an interview with Vanity Fair, that Palin found her job as governor "too hard" and that she offered to adopt Tripp to hide the teen pregnancy.
The Playgirl shoots provide further evidence that even as Palin's national profile rises, Johnston's not going away anytime soon. As The Times' Meghan Daum put it the other day, "He's hot, he's cute, he's playing hardball."
Never shy about $eeking money, Democratic President Obama's Organizing for America is now using the threat of Republican Sarah Palin as an opportunity to acquire more.
It has just sent an e-mail out to its millions of supporters today pleading for urgent donations to fight the mother of five, now on her heavily-publicized, cross-country book promotion bus tour. She holds no political office currently; in fact, she's among America's unemployed, though doing quite well financially.
Perhaps you've heard a little something about Palin in recent days.
The former governor of Alaska has written a book called "Going Rogue" that details her experiences in last year's presidential campaign, her values and thoughts on various issues.
Some people (bipartisan) think (fear) she may become a candidate for the 2012 presidential election.
Since the Republican Party that chose her as its first female presidential ticket member last year has such a glaring national leadership vacuum these days, she's getting tons of publicity in her symbiotic hate-hate relationship with the media, which doesn't mind attracting crowds with her name either (see headline above).
Although the Democratic National Committee dismisses Palin as an ignorant non-factor, it's invested way more time and effort this week attacking Palin than selling Obama, who was on another overseas publicity trip of his own.
Attempting to use Palin as a lucrative opportunity, too, today's e-mail plaintively asks: "Please chip in $5 to help."
The committee says its goal is a half-mill in one week, chump change for the one-time senator's $750-million presidential campaign.
Today's electronic missive calls Palin "dangerous," blames (credits) her for the term "death panels," and says it needs the money to combat her lies (claims), which will be magnified in coming weeks by well-known complicit conservatives in the media.
The donation plea also warns ominously that "the rest of our opponents will likely parrot those attacks."
It says the money will be used for event organizing, advertising and funding calls to Congress in support of Obama's beleaguered healthcare legislation to counter "right-wing attack groups."
Naturally, Palin is also playing off of Palin's publicity. If you give $100 to her SARAHPac here by midday next Wednesday, she'll give you a free signed copy of "Going Rogue."
Photo: Indianapolis Star via Associated Press (Long lines of Palin book-buyers stretch around the entire mall parking lot in Noblesville, Ind.); Getty Images.
"Reviewing" Sarah Palin's new book is quite an assignment. There are a lot of pages. And not many pictures. But here goes:
Despite the involvement of a professional ghostwriter, Republican ex-Gov. Palin has penned one of the most powerful pieces of personal or political literature in a generation of American books. It's "Going Rogue: An American Life" (HarperCollins, $28.99).
Her behind-the-scenes memoir -- you may have noticed a photo of the cover above -- is flying off store shelves across the country even as you read this. (Now, see video below.)
It's a 413-page masterwork of personal and political insight that makes Dick Cheney's upcoming memoir look like a Golden Book. Based on the first 48 hours of....
... sales reports, HarperCollins has already ordered additional printings. And Palin is destined to become a millionaire. Again.
With her trademark down-to-earth tone and gee-gollys, Palin takes her readers inside a compelling personal quest from her loving family's upbringing through the....
So there we were in our slippers, sweatshirt and jeans, wide awake all perky-like, notebook at the ready, prepared to take down most every revealing word that former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin was going to tell Oprah on her TV show Tuesday.
There had been so very much hype about the Republican pitbull from Alaska finally confronting the most famous backer of Democrat Barack Obama on national television for a thoughtful, woman-to-woman discussion of her new book, what it meant for the future of American politics and what it was really like as a female wearing lipstick inside the doomed McCain presidential campaign run by a bunch of chain-smoking white guys.
First of all, we noticed Oprah's guest had ditched those famous modish eyeglasses. Her hair was blonde this year. But these things can change often with women and professional wrestlers.
Oprah's guest clearly rejected the idea of wearing a confining pantsuit in public. Her short skirt went right up there around Nebraska. The hair hung down to the Dakotas. And Oprah's questioning seemed a little off-target too for a political interview.
The two women got along well, though. Then, they hit on some puzzlingly explicit topics that you don't normally hear much of in interviews of unindicted politicians.
The guest had written a book a while back called "How to Make Love Like a Porn Star," which wasn't exactly the title we had expected based on the advance publicity for the former Republican VP candidate.
The guest said women are actually her biggest fans and come up to her all the time, saying things like, "Thank you so much. You taught me how to give my husband _______. And he really loves it."
Well, as you may have guessed by now, it turns out that Oprah's guest Tuesday wasn't Sarah Palin after all. Sarah Palin was on Monday, as the week's warmup guest for some actress named Jenna Jameson, whom, quite frankly, Hon, we had never heard of, being as totally focused on politics as we are all day every day.
Apparently Jameson has made more than 100 movies of one kind or another, mostly another. And most of them with her ex-husband which, she said, was somehow safer and allowed the love to show through.
So it sounds like she made those romantic chick flicks.
But, between us, Jameson can't have been too successful financially because the actress could only afford to buy a dress with one shoulder for the show.
Of course, we had to watch the whole thing just in case Palin popped out from behind the curtain or something. You never know, you know. And politics bloggers can't ever miss any interesting human detail. Alas, Palin never appeared on Tuesday.
So we had to just sit there, wasting an entire hour, watching this tall, blonde Jameson person cross and recross her long legs and flip that mass of hair. (If it's so annoying, why not put a rubber band or something on it?)
Anyway, the whole thing got kinda old and boring, as any wife must imagine, and we forgot to take notes.
Maybe Oprah will have Palin back on some other day. We'll keep you posted.
Well, it looks like these ladies got the memo about Blue Monday.
This is Barbara Walters of ABC, shown here on the right, posing with the latest celebrity she's interviewed in her very long, diligent career of interviewing famous people about things we didn't know we wanted to know about them. Like their favorite tree, for example.
Walters is very good at it. Such conversations powered by public curiosity have proved addictive to Americans in a long tradition of popular American journalism since Dolley Madison captured the public's fascination as first lady for not one, but two, presidents -- her actual husband, James Madison, and Thomas Jefferson, a widower who in those days couldn't really bring his black mistress in as White House hostess.
Anyway, about the latest, biggest political celebrity ever, Walters might happen to mention some of her favorite moments with Palin every few minutes on "The View" this week, which also happens to be on ABC.
It's a match made in PR heaven: A politician whose supporters can't wait to see....
(New UPDATE: Monday 5:02 p.m. OK, it's not funny if you work at the White House. But for everybody else a new video at the bottom of this post will provide some chuckles about how the rest of the world chooses to greet the Japanese Emperor. Hint: It's different than President Obama.)
(UPDATES: 12:22 p.m. Saturday. A brief news video has been added below, showing the greeting in this photograph. Contrary to some claims, the video shows no reciprocal bow by the emperor, who traditionally bows to no one. And we've added a file photo from 2007 of Vice President Dick Cheney greeting the Japanese Emperor at the same residence in a different fashion.)
How low will the new American president go for the world's royalty?
This photo will get Democrat President Obama a lot of approving nods in Japan this weekend, especially among the older generation of Japanese who still pay attention to the royal family living in its downtown castle. Very low bows like this are a sign of great respect and deference to a superior.
To some in the United States, however, an upright handshake might have looked better. (See Cheney-Akihito photo, right).
Remember Michelle Obama casually patting Britain's Queen Elizabeth on the back during their Buckingham Palace visit? America's royalty tends to make movies and get bad reviews and lots of money as a sign of respect.
Obama could receive some frowns back home as he did for his not-quite-this-low-or-maybe-about-the-same-bow to the Saudi king not so long ago. (See photo here)
How times change under Democratic presidents.
Back in 1994 when President Bill Clinton appeared to maybe perhaps almost start to bow to Akihito at a White House encounter, U.S. officials rushed to deny it was any such a thing. And the N.Y. Times chronicled the comedic drama here.
Akihito, who turns 76 next month, is the eldest son and fifth child of Emperor Showa, the name given to an emperor and his reign after his death.
Emperor Showa is better known abroad by the life name of Hirohito. He became emperor in 1925 and died in 1989, the longest historically-known rule of the nation's 125 emperors.
Hirohito presided over his nation's growth from an undeveloped agrarian economy into the expansionist military power and ally of Nazi Germany of the 1930's.
And, later, Japan became a global economic giant. Hirohito, along with Prime Minister Hideki Tojo, who authorized the 1941 attack on Pearl Harbor, were much reviled abroad during World War II.
Historically, debate has simmered over how much of a political puppet Hirohito was to the country's military before and during the war.
Even after Democratic President Harry Truman ordered the two atom bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in the summer of 1945, there were strong forces within Japan that wanted to continue to fight the Americans in the spirit of kamikaze suicide pilots.
But Akihito's father went on national radio, the first time his subjects had ever heard Hirohito's voice, and without using the inflammatory word "surrender," pronounced that the country must "accept the unacceptable." It did.
As the conquering Allied general and then presiding officer of the U.S. occupation, Gen. Douglas MacArthur, decided to allow Japan to keep its emperor as a ceremonial unifying institution within a nascent democracy.
Tojo, on the other hand, was hanged.
MacArthur treated Emperor Hirohito respectfully but, as his body language in this black and white postwar photo demonstrates, was not particularly deferential.
(But then MacArthur was not known as a particularly deferential person, as Truman discovered just before firing him later. But that's another war.)
Akihito was born during Japan's conquering of China and was evacuated during the devastating American fire-bombing of Tokyo, which was built largely of wood in those days.
The future emperor learned English during the U.S. occupation, but, inexplicably, his father ordered that his oldest boy not receive an Army commission as previous imperial heirs always had.
Akihito assumed the throne on Jan. 7, 1989. Within weeks he began a series of formal expressions of remorse to Asian countries for Japan's actions during his....
...father's reign. In 2003, he underwent surgery for prostate cancer.
In 1959, Akihito married Michiko Shoda, the first commoner allowed to enter the Japanese royal family. That was two years before the birth of Akihito's future presidential guest, Barack Obama.
Joe Biden was already 17 by then. But he wasn't a senator.
(UPDATE: Here's a new video assembled by some clever College Republicans at the University of Connecticut. It's even got music and requires no explanation.
Photo: Mandel Ngan / AFP / Getty; David Bohrer / White House (Vice President Dick Cheney is received by Emperor Akihito somewhat differently in 2007); Reuters (Obama bows to the king of Saudi Arabia earlier this year); U.S. Army Archives (Gen. Douglas MacArthur not bowing to Emperor Hirohito after World War II).
With the H1N1 swine flu continuing to spread faster than the government's creaky distribution system can get out the vaccine, Americans' confidence in the Obama administration's ability to prevent a nationwide pandemic of the deadly illness is crumbling.
A new CNN/Opinion Research Poll of 1,018 adult Americans finds that a shrinking number are very or somewhat confident about the Democratic administration's plans, while those lacking confidence are increasing.
Although much of the popular media's attention has been devoted to the congressional struggle and vote over costly healthcare reform legislation — and then last week's Ft. Hood shooting that killed 13 and wounded dozens — the threat of a massive pandemic claiming hundreds of lives looms as the kind of public disaster for Obama that the Bush administration's poor preparedness was after Hurricane Katrina.
But steady delays in manufacturing the vaccine and the federal government's distribution have continued. Deliveries of millions of doses have gone way beyond the original schedule. So late are deliveries that some medical experts say an epidemic will be well underway or over before all the doses become available in late December.
Now, the new CNN Poll, taken Oct. 30-Nov. 1 with a margin of error of plus or minus 3 points, finds that the proportion of Americans who are very confident that the Obama White House can prevent a pandemic has fallen from a meager 15% around Labor Day to a worse 11% now. The proportion of those feeling "somewhat confident" has dropped from 44% to 40%.
Meanwhile, the proportion of those lacking any confidence has jumped from 40% to 49%.
