Do progressives REALLY want to support a campaign starting an "official faith tour"?

Long-time readers of this blog know that during the primary season one myth I tried to debunk was that Senator Obama was particularly progressive. More recent readers may recall my position that true progressivism has to put individual human dignity and worth at the center of political action and policy; and that progressivism requires a serious separation of church and state.

With the so-called 50-state strategy once again being irrelevant to how Democrats win Presidential elections, Senator Obama is now planning trip another tour of swing states^• - places where he's already been concentrating his advertising and where he and Joe Biden have gone again and again in an effort to win votes from people who Senator Obama tended to belittle during his run. Well, I know, one cannot blame a struggling candidate for going to where he must if he wants to win.The Christian Broadcasting Network reports that "beginning next week the campaign will start an official faith tour in key battleground states called “Barack Obama: Faith, Family and Values Tour”. The subheading of the tour is as follows: “Voting ALL Our Values”.

The folks headed out on this sojourn reportedly include Former Indiana Congressman and pro-life Democrat Tim Roemer, Catholic legal scholar Doug Kmiec, and author Donald Miller. And while a faith tour designed to appeal to Christian conservatives naturally includes Christian conservatives as speakers, some in the LGBT community are particularly distressed at the inclusion of Professor Kmiec who is based at Pepperdine Law School (where Ken Starr serves as Dean) in California. Professor Kmiec is an avowed supporter of Proposition 8, the initiative in California that would create a state-wide ban on gay marriage. For more on the details of this particular disturbing aspect of the Democratic candidate's campaign sponsoring a Christian faith tour go here.

American politicians all pay at least lip service to their religiosity, and yes, as I myself have explained, doing so is a prerequisite to winning high office here. But not all American politicians and certainly not all Democrats organize Christian faith tours that include a prominent opponent to a civil right millions of Americans are fighting for: the right to marry the person of their choice. Senator Obama himself does not support Proposition 8, although he can hardly be said to be a champion of civil rights for gays and lesbians (during the primary he consistently refused to be interviewed by LGBT newspapers and he will not march in various gay pride parades like the one Democratic Governor Ed Rendell regularly appears at in Philadelphia).

Whatever Senator Obama's actual position on gay marriage or civil union, the inclusion of Professor Kmiec and the entire concept of the "Barack Obama: Faith, Family, and Values Tour" demonstrates that as usual, Senator Obama and his campaign try to have it both ways all the time. Whether it be privacy rights, reproductive rights, or separation of church and state Senator Obama cannot be trusted to pursue a progressive agenda.

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^*States on the tour list include Colorado, Indiana, North Carolina, Georgia, Michigan, Ohio, Pensylvania, Missouri, Florida, New Mexico, Virginia, and Wisconsin. Senator Obama reportedly wants to win over white Catholic voters in these states. Apparently Senator Obama has  given up on getting the votes of white evangelical Christians even though he himself is steeped in the evangelical Christian tradition.

Comments

[DaddysDarlin]

This is outrageous! How can they justify having a faith tour, while the separation of church and state is quite clear--separation.
I would never vote for a man who CLAIMS to have my faith and moral background, yet attend a racist church for twenty years!
Just another example of why Obama needs to stay the hell out of politics, and the hell out of the White House.
He is a danger to our constitutional rights, a danger to our lives as Americans, he is a deceitful, hateful, liar who will do and say anything to get elected.
I'm not buying what Obama is selling.

[Palomino]

Doesn't John McCain's choice of Sarah Palin for VP make Obama's religious road show basically irrelevant to evangelical Christian voters? Not to likely Democratic voters, though, who now have yet another reason to dislike Barack Obama and what he stands for--or doesn't.

[CJT]

As a lesbian who turned 21 in 1980, I vividly recall Reagan meeting with Jerry Falwell's church in Virginia to court the evangelicals. The raw gay hatred that I saw there (and that I grew up with) has been an enormous stress and a challenge to overcome my entire life. I have fought the religious right trying to tell me that I am sick and pathological for years.

And for all those years I have been a loyal Democrat. This is how I am thanked by my party? With a "faith tour" that includes an Obama surrogate who would like to deprive me of marriage rights? I turn 50 next year (my same sex marriage of 18 years is still not safe, even in California). My party has abandoned me. I hope they remember why I will not cast a vote for a Democratic presidential candidate for the first time in my life in November.

[truthisgold]

For the Obama camp to attempt to garner support from the religious right would be, if it wasn't so blatently desperate, hilariously amusing, and not at all dissimilar to a poorly conceived SNL skit for which the show is famous. Not only are these the same people Obama characterized as "bitter", "gun toting", and "clinging to god," but he has also staunchly supported late term abortion and characterized the bearing of a child as "punishment." To even THINK of trying to woo the very people he has dismissed as bitter fools only serves to illustrate the degree to which a desperately narcissistic, out of touch man will go to try and get his way.

[Sammie]

Heidi makes some very good points, however, I must disagree with the following statement:

"he himself is steeped in the evangelical Christian tradition"

Actually, Obama is steeped in Black Liberation Theology, which really isn't embraced by the types of evangelicals you would find in the states he is touring. In fact, I believe Pastor Rich Warren expressed concerns about the failings of liberation theology in South America.

[Cinie]

Only 15 people showed up to the first stop.
http://www.lifenews.com/state3495.html

[Ginnifer]

I am very concerned about this "faith" your and its homophobic tone. How can the Human Rights Campaign Fund, the largest LGBT lobbying organization in the country, support Obama?

They had an opportunity to support Hillary Clinton but waited until the die was cast at the convention.

i have tried to locate the specifics of the dates and locations for the tour and could not find on the Obama website.

Could someone do us all a favor and list that info here and elsehere so we can try to interest our local media in stories? Thanks