"The One" Blows it at Saddleback

I'm no great fan of Pastor Rick Warren. I don't like the whole modern concept of "church growth as targeted marketing". I believe his understanding of the Gospel is fundamentally flawed because Rick preaches that the main human problem is not Sin which he almost refuses to speak of, but rather "lostness and listlessness", a lack of Purpose. Rick is also a bit of a publicity hound showing up where there is a TV camera and a crisis.

But the Saddleback forum, as I'll call it, with candidates McCain and Obama was nonetheless rather instructive. Most debates and forums are held in which the playing ground is not always fair. Candidates are not asked the same questions. Reporters ask questions that are loaded. And candidates also get the benefit of hearing the others' answers and pile on the guy (or girl) who's not doing so well. The one beneficial aspect of Saddleback was that we got to witness two candidates being asked the same exact questions. And, in the spirit of a true "Quiz Show" fairness, the other candidate was kept in a "cone of isolation" so they couldn't hear the questions or the responses of the other.

It was a unique, controlled experiment. An experiment at which "The One" did not do so well. In fact, Obama was so lackluster in comparison to McCain that the campaign is publicly complaining that McCain must have not been really in the "cone of isolation", or must've had advance notification of the questions, due to the speed and preparedness of his answers. May I suggest it's rather demonstrative simply of the fact that "The One" does not have the core principles that allow him the clarity of a speedy answer. Unless of course it's one written into a stump speech.

People of principle have arrived at their beliefs because they've not thought about the polls, but have cogitated deeply about the issue. And while they can indeed change their minds over time, when presented with facts that change opinion, they are far more nimble when it comes to presenting their point. For instance, ask me a question about Christian theology, apologetics, or Biblical authority and I'm going to answer you very quickly. Because it's a subject that has been an actively deep part of my thinking especially over the last 2 decades. I wrestle with it daily. It's reflexive. I don't need to agonize over it. And while some issues have grown, deepened, and even changed over that time, I'm not often caught off guard.

Obama's problem is his lack of real conviction. Or perhaps I should say his lack of honesty about his real convictions, because he is actually so far to the Left that he has to try to come off as something that he's not in order to succeed in a Center/Right nation. Obama's problem is not John McCain. It's Barack Obama. And that's a problem no "cone of silence" can solve.