Spiritual Politics

Take a look at the excerpts from Jacob Weisberg's new book on President Bush post in Slate today. Weisberg is not the first to get behind the Billy Graham walk-on-the-beach myth, but his version seems to be the best we have so far. Evangelist Arthur Blessit, not Graham, is the guy who made the difference. Best of all is the account of Bush's relationship with Doug Wead, the sometime Pentecostal minister who did evangelical outreach for his father's campaign in 1988. Wead's a curious, excessively outspoken character. (Years ago, he explained to me how the Bush '88 campaign used religion to do away with the candidacies of Jack Kemp and Pat Robertson.) Weisberg's portrait of Bush's religion is neither credulous nor dismissive, but--to my eye--pretty well balanced.

Posted by Mark Silk at 07:53 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

David Kuo and John J. DiIulio Jr, former directors of the White House office of Faith Based Initiatives, criticized the Bush administration’s leadership of their department in today’s NYT. Kuo and Dilulio defended the positive effects of religious giving like providing social services to low income citizens, daycare, and assistance for the homeless. Yet, they also highlighted the President’s shortfalls in implementing such programs, i.e. the modest increase in government grants to faith based groups.

The duo did not shy away from preaching the proper role of faith based initiatives with their closing paragraph: "On Jan. 19, 2005, Mrs. Clinton, speaking before clergy members in Boston, captured the spirit that is likely to prevail in the White House, no matter who is elected: 'But I ask you, who is more likely to go out onto a street to save some poor, at-risk child than someone from the community, someone who believes in the divinity of every person, who sees God at work in the lives of even the most hopeless and left-behind of our children? And that’s why we need to not have a false division or debate about the role of faith-based institutions, we need to just do it and provide the support that is needed on an ongoing basis.' Amen.”

Posted by Reid Vineis at 01:55 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

President Bush said today that his faith helped beat his alcohol problem. Bush speaking to a faith based program aimed at reforming inmates said, "I understand faith-based programs. I understand that sometimes you can find the inspiration from a higher power to solve an addiction problem."

Posted by Reid Vineis at 01:35 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)