McCain and Obama to Appear at Saddleback Church

UPDATE: Obama Tried to Impress Rick Warren, McCain Tried to Impress the Voters.
SOUR GRAPES UPDATE - Obama camp hints that McCain cheated.

It looks like the first joint appearance by the two presidential candidates will be held right in my backyard at Saddleback Church:

LAKE FOREST, Calif., July 21 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Sens. John McCain and Barack Obama, respective presumed Republican and Democratic presidential nominees, will end the primary season by making their first joint appearance of the 2008 campaign at Saddleback Church on Saturday, Aug. 16 at the Saddleback Civil Forum on Leadership and Compassion. Dr. Rick Warren, founding pastor of the 22,000-member Orange County, Calif. mega church and moderator for the event, made the announcement today upon confirmation by both campaigns.

"We're honored that the candidates chose The Saddleback Civil Forum on Leadership and Compassion for their first joint appearance, an unprecedented opportunity for America to hear both men back-to-back on the same platform," Warren said. "This is a critical time for our nation and the American people deserve to hear both candidates speak from the heart -- without interruption -- in a civil and thoughtful format absent the partisan 'gotcha' questions that typically produce heat instead of light.

"The primaries proved that Americans care deeply about the faith, values, character and leadership convictions of candidates as much as they do about the issues. While I know both men as friends and they recognize I will be frank, but fair, they also know I will be raising questions in these four areas beyond what political reporters typically ask. This includes pressing issues that are bridging divides in our nation, such as poverty, HIV/AIDS, climate and human rights."

Warren confirmed that, at the candidates' request, this two-hour event from 5-7 p.m. (PDT) will be held in a non-debate format and open to all media. Both candidates also requested that questions be posed exclusively by Warren, instead of a panel or members of the audience. Each will converse separately with Warren for approximately one-hour, beginning with Sen. Obama as determined by a coin toss. This historic forum will be the only joint campaign event prior to each party's national convention.

"While debates typically focus primarily on the candidates' positions and only secondarily on how they'd lead and make decisions, this Saddleback Civil Forum will reverse that ratio," Warren continued. "Since the oath of the President is a commitment to protect the Constitution, it's critical to know how each candidate interprets the nature of its principles. Leadership involves far more than promoting programs and making speeches, and since no one can predict what crises will happen over the next four years, it is vital to know the decision capacity and process of each man."

This is all fine and good and I'm sure the Obamessiah will claim this qualifies as one of the "debates" he agreed to do (remember his "I'll meet John McCain anywhere/anytime" statement which he has since reneged on), but this forum is more likely to produce canned, well rehearsed, and focus-grouped answers rather than breaking any new ground. Taking the Obamessiah off teleprompter will be good for McCain since they're polar opposites when it comes to unscripted moments. McCain is great off the teleprompter when responding to citizens in town hall meetings, while Obama is dangerous off-the-cuff and clearly does better than McCain in a scripted speech.

This would have been better had both candidates taken questions from the forum's audience and then had the opportunity to respond to each other. Obama appeared at Saddleback two years ago and revealed nothing new about himself, and last year Hillary Clinton did the same.

UPDATE: Members of the church can try and get tickets to the event here.