Working the field, part X - Obama

Barack Hussein Obama

Ah, yes … that name. That name which has been mocked by so many voices in talk radio or in the trashy versions of conversation that pose as political discussion … Barack Hussein Obama.

I was listening to Sean Hannity’s radio show when I first found out that Sen. Obama’s middle name is Hussein. Hannity was, himself, disingenuously asking whether people thought it should be an issue and saying he didn’t know whether it would pose a problem. This, after people were already calling him “Barack Osama.” One might think that the novelty had worn off by now, but as recently as 9/26/07, Ann Coulter wrote:

Democrats should run Mahmoud Ahmadinejad for president. … the name “Mahmoud Ahmadinejad” is surely no more frightening than “B. Hussein Obama.”

I can only assume that “B. Hussein Obama” is Barack H. Obama, and that Coulter is participating in her typical, juvenile name-calling. Of course, his middle name really doesn’t mean much. Even if it was his first name, it wouldn’t mean anything. My first name is William. I don’t think that I should share any blame or credit with William of Normandy, Kaiser Wilhelm, Prince William, Billy the Kid, William Henry Harrison, or Wild Bill Hickok. (Okay, so Wild Bill’s real name was James Butler Hickok, but you get the idea …)

Anyway, I’d like to see the debate elevated a little above this stupidity, but it seems that we can’t get away from it. So, there we are. I’ve wasted about 250 words talking about name-calling again.

Even before his run for the White House was formal, Obama was involved in a big controversy over his appearance at Pastor Rick Warren’s Saddleback Church in Lake Forest, California. The appearance was for an AIDS Summit, and Obama was speaking on Friday (not preaching a sermon or any such thing). From his point of view, and that of Rick Warren (well known for writing The Purpose-Driven Life), this was reaching out to differing opinion groups for work on AIDS. Many evangelicals disagreed. For my own part, I think that it was fine, though I understand from whence my brethren come.

The junior Senator from Illinois, Obama is in his first term. For my money, this is a very limited resume for someone who wants to be President of the most powerful nation in the world.  Actually, his campaign is going very well for someone who hasn’t had more election experience than he has. In his 2004 Senate campaign, the Republican primary winner dropped out (in a story I won’t tell here) and long-time Maryland resident Alan Keyes was put up against him. Obama won handily (with 70% of the vote, there wasn’t even room for Keyes to place a close second).

Obama is absolutely not an originalist when it comes to interpreting the Constitution. From Ontheissues.org:

When we get in a tussle, we appeal to the Founding Fathers and the Constitution’s ratifiers to give direction. Some, like Justice Scalia, conclude that the original understanding must be followed and if we obey this rule, democracy is respected.

Others, like Justice Breyers, insist that sometimes the original understanding can take you only so far–that on the truly big arguments, we have to take context, history, and the practical outcomes of a decision into account.

I have to side with Justice Breyer’s view of the Constitution–that it is not a static but rather a living document and must be read in the context of an ever-changing world.

I see democracy as a conversation to be had. According to this conception, the genius of Madison’s design is not that it provides a fixed blueprint for action. It provides us with a framework and rules, but all its machinery are designed to force us into a conversation.

Source: The Audacity of Hope, by Barack Obama, p. 89-92 Oct 1, 2006

He is a committed pro-choicer, defending every practice — including late-term abortions, partial-birth abortion, and a practice that Nurse Jill Stanek described as infanticide, and one on which even NARAL was neutral, and Hillary Clinton (hardly a pro-life hard-liner) voted to ban at the federal level.

While he stands against using the term “marriage” for gay marriage, he’s in favor of full rights for civil unions. Although he has spoken of justifications for capital punishment, he opposes it legislatively.

His education plan is mostly to spend a lot more money. He supports charter schools, but not vouchers for private schools. As is often the case, he sends his own children to private schools.

Environmentally, he’s generally opposed to new drilling for oil. He wants to raise CAFE standards, explore more renewables, and is willing to consider nuclear power.

He wants to secure the borders, but also work on routes to citizenship for illegal aliens in the country.

He commits to ending the war in Iraq, but doesn’t go into specifics on his  campaign web site. He, unlike some other Democratic candidates, is not a convert to opposing the war. He opposed it from the beginning, which gives him an advantage over his competition. (Of course, that advantage hasn’t done much to help Dennis Kucinich.)

Of course, it’s well known that Obama is a member of the United Church of Christ (which should not be confused with the Church of Christ that Fred Thompson theoretically attends). Trinity United Church of Christ commits to what is known as Africentric Christianity,  which falls right into that category of new teachings discussed in Galatians 1:6-9. This, however, is a theological point that might not interest non-Christians.
Their web site, though, has removed from controversial material from its “About Us” page. This material was copied here, though, for discussion.

He is aggressive in his desire to impose gun control laws, and voted against a ban on lawsuits against gun manufacturers. His interpretation of the Second Amendment has been termed “the right to bear sporting goods” by a blog of Democratic  gun owners.

Sen. Obama did not vote on the recent resolution condemning MoveOn.org for its ad maligning General Petraeus. He said that he abstained in order to make a statement against empty politics. Having said that, he had voted earlier in the day on Barbara Boxer’s similar resolution that condemned attacks against soldiers in general.

Obama has come out in favor of attacks against Pakistan in order to pursue the war on terror, which has  been quite controversial. He has also spoken of missile strikes against Iran in order to prevent the development of nuclear weapons.

He has written a couple bestselling books, neither of which I will review, since I haven’t read them. Ultimately, he seems like a nice guy of good character, but his positions place him solidly in the liberal side of the world, and when his abortion positions go to the left of NARAL, he’s certainly not going to be my guy.