A Big Mistake by the Obama Administration

Can someone help me figure out what he's up to? Obama is making a mistake with his faith-based initiative. The idea isn't even popular anymore with most social conservatives, and with good reason: do Christians want their tax dollars going to Muslim charities? Or to atheist educational foundations? Probably not. Maybe Obama thinks that the non-believers he apparently tried to mollify by working them into his inauguration won't notice this; and it's not as if the social conservatives are suddenly going to love Obama for this. In any event, this is a big mistake on the Obama administration's part.

Obama is Playing Clinton's Game

And that game is: incoporate your opponent's positions when they suit you, and in so doing, irritate the hell out of said opponents (and what can they say? "That's the right thing to do but only I'm allowed to support it"?) and steal their supporters to boot. Nothing wrong with it; Obama is a shrewd strategist. Governor Schwarzenegger does it too. In this case, Obama has used the Clinton strategy by stating that he supports faith-based initiatives, and in so doing exploits McCain's perceived weakness with the Religious Right. Obama thinks that as soon as people hear that word "faith", they'll be tricked.

The problem with this particular move, if Obama gets elected and actually follows through on it in office, is that now both parties have endorsed a position that badly damages a Constitutional pillar, and we - Americans - have nowhere to run.

Whether or not you're a Christian American, you should still see a problem with the government intruding into your faith. The erosion of the barrier between church and state is a frightening prospect for the religious and nonreligious alike, which is exactly why Thomas Jefferson made it such a firm part of his ideals from the beginning:


Once the government controls your religious group's budget, they control you; and don't think that the church with the closest relationship to the government isn't going to do better than yours. (After the David Koresh incident I saw a bumper sticker in Texas: "Is your church ATF-approved?") And even if that doesn't give you pause about faith-based initiatives, you can't guarantee that all your tax money will be going to Christian charities. Do you like the idea of an orphanage getting Federal funds to teach Koran classes? How about paying for a Scientology center to do park maintenance? Now you're getting it. You can't exclude or allow particular religions, unless of course you have an official state religion, like Iran.

No to Obama, and no to faith-based initiatives from anybody!