Obama's "God Talk"

From this September 7, 2012 article in the Washington Post, an article that also appeared in the print edition in the "On Faith" section:

Obama’s ‘God talk’ was highlight of his convention acceptance speech

...[T]radition requires some God talk at a convention speech, and Obama was not about to flout that tradition. Nonbelievers and the religiously unaffiliated may be growing in number, but the vast majority of Americans want a president who believes. According to the PRRI, 66 percent of Democrats and 58 percent of independents say it’s important for a president to have strong faith.

The only question was how he’d express it. In a phone interview before the speech, Democratic strategist Eric Sapp said he hoped to see a return of the spiritually uplifting campaigner. Obama in ’08 “was very authentic,” Sapp said. “When he switched to policy, he lost. When [Democrats] become too secular, we lose our moral compass, we lose our core, we lose our values. We can’t be seen as being against God. And if we intentionally start clamming up over this stuff, we are going to lose a lot of voters for whom this is important.”

At the outset, the president’s speech lacked loft. But about two-thirds of the way in, Obama turned and faced the religion question head on. He did it with a pronoun. He started talking about “you.”

“The election four years ago was not about me,” he said. “My fellow citizens, you were the change. . . . Only you have the power to move us forward.”

Religious leaders have used this rhetorical pivot — it’s not about me, it’s about you — to great effect over the years. Moses used it in the desert when he told the people of Israel that they had to get themselves to the Promised Land. Jesus used it when he told followers that they had to make a choice and leave their families to follow him. American political leaders have used the collective “you” in their high-flying expressions of civil religion, linking U.S. citizenship to a sacred blessing and calling political engagement a sacred obligation. Think of John F. Kennedy’s inaugural address, when he told people, “Ask not what your country can do for you.”

The focus on the “you” gives the responsibility for doing what is fair and righteous to the people and deftly acknowledges that even the most powerful leaders are fallible and imperfect.

Through the power of the collective “you,” Obama was able to release himself from the fetters of his personal religious history and paint a picture of an America in which responsibility to country and neighbor is a responsibility to God. The soaring high notes at the conclusion of his speech were familiar to anyone who followed the candidate in ’08. “Yes, our path is harder,” he said, “but it leads to a better place. Yes our road is longer— but we travel it together. . . . We draw strength from our victories, and we learn from our mistakes, but we keep our eyes fixed on that distant horizon, knowing that providence is with us, and that we are surely blessed to be citizens of the greatest nation on earth.”

It was God talk, all right, and he’s good at it. He needs to use it more often.

Gag!

How many people really believe this swill?