NYT: Democrats Wrangle Over Words and Beliefs
By JOHN M. BRODER
Published: April 14, 2008
GRANTHAM, Pa. — A candidate forum devoted to issues of faith and justice became another flash point for Senators Barack Obama and Hillary Rodham Clinton to spar in their intensifying nominating fight, with the candidates exchanging frosty glances Sunday night as their paths briefly crossed on stage. The Democratic contenders addressed the Compassion Forum at Messiah College here, one after the other. Their cold, quick encounter as they traded places on the stage reflected the hostility between them over the past two days as Mrs. Clinton has repeatedly hammered Mr. Obama for remarks he made at a fund-raiser suggesting that some voters turned to religion and guns as consolation for their bitterness about their economic hardship.
In response to the first question at the forum, Mrs. Clinton repeated her charge that Mr. Obama’s remarks were “elitist, out of touch and, frankly, patronizing.” She said his words helped perpetuate the idea that Democrats looked down their noses at church-going Americans and hunters, an attitude that many Democrats believe contributed to their last two presidential losses. Mr. Obama, when he got his chance on the stage, once again sought to clarify and defend his comments, which he made in the closed-door fund-raiser in San Francisco a week ago. He said his words had been distorted and misconstrued. “That was in no way a demeaning of a faith that I myself embrace,” Mr. Obama said. “When economic hardship hits, they have faith, they have family, they have traditions that have been passed on from generation to generation. Those are not bad things. Those are the things that are left.”
Nine days before the fiercely contested Pennsylvania primary, the two candidates sought through their appearance at this small Christian college to reassure voters that they shared their values. They also sought to close the so-called God gap that has benefited Republicans over the past several election cycles.
Senator John McCain of Arizona, the likely Republican nominee, chose not to participate....
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The forum demonstrated how far the Democratic Party has come in its internal grappling with questions of faith and religion in public life. The party and liberal-leaning groups have been engaged in a broad discussion on these matters since the 2004 election, in which people who attended church regularly voted overwhelmingly for President Bush over Senator John Kerry, who was noticeably uncomfortable talking about his own Catholic faith.
In her criticism of Mr. Obama’s comments, Mrs. Clinton alluded to that electoral divide. Sunday night she spoke fluidly and comfortably about her Methodist upbringing and how faith had guided her and comforted her since she was a child. Mr. Obama noted several times that his Christian faith underlay his commitment to social justice and was a central part of his work as a community organizer in Chicago before he went into politics. He also defended his former pastor, the Rev. Jeremiah A. Wright Jr., who has delivered scathing sermons portraying the United States as a racist, warmongering nation. Mr. Obama was forced to address those comments, repudiating Mr. Wright’s most radical views while saying he still felt a strong bond to the man who helped bring him to his Christian faith....
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/14/us/politics/14forum.html?_r=1&oref=login&ref=todayspaper&pagewanted=all
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