Obamessiah and the Evangelicals

There seems to be a media push today to convince us that evangelicals are going to start flocking to the Obamessiah. First this article:

On paper, the Democrats' nomination of Barack Obama is a gift to the Christian right.

Obama's liberal record on gay rights and abortion — he opposes the Defense of Marriage Act, the federal "partial-birth abortion" ban and, as a state senator in Illinois, opposed the Born Alive Infants Protection Act, which attempted to protect unsuccessfully aborted fetuses — should make him easy enough for "values voters" to oppose. ...

Of course, part of the reason for the Christian right's focus on Obama is his emergence months ago as the Democratic front-runner. But the movement's leaders also fear him because, despite his weak showing among religious Democrats, he has shown unusual potential for appealing to the rank-and-file evangelicals and other religious voters who usually back the Christian right's Republican allies.

Openly faithful

That's largely because Obama isn't afraid to discuss faith's role in his life, including his come-to-Jesus experience. Speaking of the influence that the now well-known Rev. Jeremiah Wright had on him, Obama told a church audience last year: "He introduced me to someone named Jesus Christ. I learned that my sins could be redeemed. I learned that those things I was too weak to accomplish myself, He would accomplish with me if I placed my trust in Him."

Such talk is more reminiscent of George W. Bush than of recent Democratic presidential nominees. "To a lot of people, Sen. Obama is an unknown suit that talks the 'evangelical talk' without actually saying anything on his opinions or his track record," says Tom McClusky, the Family Research Council's chief lobbyist. "In the general election, Sen. Obama speaking 'religion' is going to sound more familiar and natural than Sen. (John) McCain."

And — to evangelicals, at least — more familiar than Hillary Clinton, whose mainline Methodist background helps explain her preference for discussing the importance of doing good works over her personal relationship with Jesus. "Clinton does not compete with the religious right because her message is one not of hope and of healing, but of meeting the pragmatic concerns of economic advantage," says Douglas Kmiec, a conservative Catholic legal scholar and former adviser to presidential candidate Mitt Romney. (Kmiec has since endorsed Obama.)

"Obama has the capacity to win the soul of the working person," Kmiec says, "whereas Mrs. Clinton speaks to the pocketbook and the here and now."

Well, Messiah's will do that. In a second piece an author who wrote a book about the faith of George Bush has a book about the faith of the Obamessiah coming out this fall.

The forthcoming volume from Stephen Mansfield, whose sympathetic "The Faith of George W. Bush" spent 15 weeks on the New York Times bestseller list in 2004, is titled "The Faith of Barack Obama." Its tone ranges from gently critical to gushing, and the author defends Obama-and even his controversial former minister, the Rev. Jeremiah Wright-from conservative critics, and portrays him as a compelling figure for Christian voters.

"Young Evangelicals are saying, 'Look, I'm pro-life but I'm looking at a guy who's first of all black-and they love that; two, who's a Christian; and three who believes faith should bear on public policy," Mansfield, who described himself as a conservative Republican, said in a telephone interview. "They disagree with him on abortion, but they agree with him on poverty, on the war."

Yeah, what do Christians care about a little thing like abortion? Somebody's running a campaign here, and it's going to get media traction even if it isn't true.

However, at least one evangelical isn't buying it and it's causing the Obamessiah some problems:

Senator Barack Obama's campaign team is scrambling to do damage control in the wake of the national story two weeks ago when the world's leading Internet evangelist Bill Keller of Liveprayer, questioned in a widely distributed Op-ed article, YouTube video, and Daily Devotional to his 2.4 million subscribers whether Senator Obama was really a Christian.

Keller questioned the authenticity of Senator Obama's faith in Christ due to the fact he has stated there are "many paths to God" when orthodox Christianity clearly teaches that faith in Jesus Christ is the only way to be saved, in addition to his support of killing babies, gay marriage, and giving away part of Israel to the Palestinians, all contrary to Christian teachings according to the Bible.

In response to Keller's assertions, the Obama campaign has launched the Joshua Generation Project, concentrating on young Christian rather than older Christians who are unlikely to support someone who advocates killing babies and gay marriage. Also, last week Senator Obama had a private meeting in Chicago with a handpicked selection of evangelicals who were allowed to ask him any question, but were forbidden to share his answers with the press or in any public forum.

Lastly, was the launch of a new campaign website designed to counter the rumors and false information being spread on the Internet.

Gateway Pundit has the video here. Looks like the Obamessiah has a little more brainwashing to do of the wishy-washing Christians.