God-King Barack

Good: Obama's sister connecting with Asian-Americans.
Good: Obama and Bill Clinton chat for 20 minutes.
Good: Obama delivers speech on what is and what isn't true patriotism, while media actually does its job for once and points out that people believe a bunch of lies about him. Not so good: Obama calls out MoveOn for "General Betrayus" and disavows Clark's simple statement of the truth.
Good: Obama goes after those evangelicals who are sick of being tools of the GOP.
Total fucking bullshit: Obama proposes using more tax money to subsidize social services delivered by churches, allowing them explicitly to discriminate in hiring and tacitly to proselytize the clients.

I have to remind myself what Ogged said in May:

It'll be interesting to see how people react now that Obama has to appeal to general election voters. It's a pretty sure thing that he'll be talking a lot more about God, and he'll have to up the pander on Israel, if only to keep the manufactured outrage to a minimum. No doubt there'll be plenty of Democrats who'll remind us that they just knew he'd be a sell-out.

Obama's whole shtick is "kumbaya". That means he will work to maintain his image as being above the mudslinging (as perceived by the media, like the Clark thing and MoveOn), and embrace "common-sense solutions that work" (again, as perceived by the media, like faith-based programs). "Kumbaya" means triangulation.

Update: Brendan in comments alerts me to the fact that Obama actually said discrimination in employment on the basis of religion using taxpayer money was and will be forbidden. Hence the correction.

 

However. Saying that something is the law is not the same as that being the practice. The reason why giving large amounts of tax money to churches is a bad idea is that the people administering the programs have a very sincere, deep-seated belief in God, and often feel compelled to share that with people. They see nothing wrong with bringing their faith into their work, and would vehemently deny that they were doing anything wrong. It just so happens that all their clients have to listen to their spiel, and the workers would get very upset if they disagreed or told them to keep their beliefs to themselves.

Multiply these little incidents across thousands of organizations, and you see the enforcement problem. People who need social services are hardly in the position to raise hell about having their rights being violated. So "the law" becomes a dead letter when there is no practical way to enforce it.

Comments

[brendancalling]

I feel like the blogosphere's fact-checker today.
In FACT, Obama said:

"Now, make no mistake, as someone who used to teach constitutional law, I believe deeply in the separation of church and state, but I don't believe this partnership will endanger that idea - so long as we follow a few basic principles. First, if you get a federal grant, you can't use that grant money to proselytize to the people you help and you can't discriminate against them - or against the people you hire - on the basis of their religion. Second, federal dollars that go directly to churches, temples, and mosques can only be used on secular programs. And we'll also ensure that taxpayer dollars only go to those programs that actually work."

Please edit. Everyone has it wrong. atrios caught it first.

[Ruth]

I agree Mithras. When people who DON'T work for a religious organization feel perfectly comfortable signing off a telephone call with "have a blessed day" there is no reason to expect that a church-based organization would even attempt to police themselves, and enforcement would be impossible.

[Tehanu]

I like the way you address specific points about Obama and state whether you like them or not. It's a refreshing change from a lot of the blogs I read, where it's either "We're saved!" or "He's a fascist!"

I find myself repeating to everybody who asks that, when November rolls around and I vote for him for Pres., I won't be voting for Saint -- or Hero -- or Fearless Leader on White Horse. I'll be voting for the guy who I think will do the most good and the least harm running the government. Period.

[yesterday]

all the attacks barack gets for his middle name, you're surprised he'd object to the same thing done to "General Betrayus"?

Total fucking bullshit: Obama proposes using more tax money to subsidize social services delivered by churches, allowing them ... tacitly to proselytize the clients.

perhaps you've been more fortunate than me, but there was a time when i got myself into a tight spot and catholic charities was kind enough to provide for some groceries. i didn't get so much as a "bless you." nobody there tried to convert me.

the poor, sick & homeless cannot afford to abide by your ideological purity.

[Mithras]

My ideology involves preserving the First Amendment, moron.

[yesterday]

funding secular social services is not establishing religion.

you really think obama would support something unconstitutional?