Recently in Clinton Category

In her non-concession speech last night, Hillary Clinton said:

I often felt that each of your votes was a prayer for our nation, a declaration of your dreams for your children, a reflection of your desire to chart a new course in this new century. And, in the end, while this primary was long, I am so proud we stayed the course together.

What I missed yesterday was the afternoon's reprimand of Fr. Pfleger by his boss Francis George, the cardinal archbishop of Chicago. Let's assume, then, that Bill Donohue knew that Pfleger had incurred episcopal displeasure. Is it any more the Catholic League's business to serve as the hierarchy's enforcer of ecclesiastical discipline?

More interesting, though, is this first paragraph of George's statement:

The Catholic Church does not endorse political candidates. Consequently, while a priest must speak to political issues that are also moral, he may not endorse candidates nor engage in partisan campaigning.

But assume for the sake of argument that Cardinal George is right. Should that require a reprimand of Monsignor Jim Silante, shown below giving an Obama-mocking, McCain-endorsing invocation at the annual dinner of the New York Republican Party Thursday evening? And what about the partisan activity of the Catholic League itself? Does the Catholic League speak for the church?

Not that it's likely to make a difference, but has anyone asked the Clinton campaign for a reaction to New York Gov. David Paterson's order that state agencies recognize same-sex marriages performed out of state? Earlier in the campaign, this would have been a subject of considerable media interest, especially after Hillary's flip-flop on supporting then-Gov. Spitzer's proposal to allow illegal immigrants to obtain drivers licenses. Paterson did not endear himself to the Clintonistas by describing Hillary as showing "desperation" in her campaign, and this latest act can hardly have been considered good news. As for Barack Obama, he will sooner or later be called upon to pronounce on the subject. Sure, he (like Clinton) have assumed the approved Democratic position of favoring civil unions but not anything more. Then there's the John McCain "states rights" dodge. You've got to figure that the issue has traction in the campaign, but maybe more at the state and local level.

It's worth taking a look at GOM's interview with Eric McFadden, who has had the job of mobilizing Catholics for the Clinton campaign.

How does religion relate to presidential conduct? Every now and then, a president acts in a way that pretty clearly seems to express his religious commitments. Rarely is the expression as clear as it's been with George W. Bush's faith-based initiative. But it was not hard to see a religious impulse at work in, for example, Jimmy Carter's assiduous pursuit of a peace treaty between Israel and Egypt.

With presidential candidates, of course, we can only ask questions. And, when a candidate's religion worries some portion of the electorate, the questions tend to be unedifying. Would Jack Kennedy take orders from Rome? Would Mitt Romney take orders from Salt Lake? Would Barack Obama take orders from Jeremiah Wright?

Of greater use to to try to see the candidate's religious background and journey (if journey there be) as a window onto his or her identity. In this regard, Hillary Clinton's more than passing engagement in the semi-secret organization known as The Family is of more than passing interest. Yesterday this blog received a comment from Jeff Sharlet, whose book on the organization, The Family, will be out in a little over a week. Our exchange is here.

Having not yet read the book, I'm not sure to what extent, if any, Sharlet ties Clinton to the Family's right-wing political inclinations. He agrees that the thing has a fundamentally establishmentarian ethos--how the Family is dedicated to bringing Washington's movers and shakers together. That is the source of its particular appeal to Clinton, I suspect. (It is sort of the Renaissance Weekend of American religion.) That her favorite Bible story is Esther speaks volumes: Make me the queen and I'll save the people from the evil that threatens.

More than anything else, it is the impulse to solve problems from the top down, from the inside out, that seems at the core of Clinton's public being. Her failed health care initiative is the case par excellence. What's missing is the inspirational voice, the prophetic challenge, the spiritual summons. That latter--just words, she says--is, of course, Obama's stock in trade. At bottom, they are religious opposites.

Update: My exchange with Sharlet continues in the comments to this post.

Bill Clinton asked two congregations in NC today to pray for Hillary, and to vote for her. "I just want you to pray for her and to make your voices heard," Clinton said. "Do whatever you think is right. But don't sit this out, because we are being called upon to return to our true purpose."

So you're aware that on O'Reilly Hillary Clinton pronounced these magical five words: “Rich people—God bless us.” A new devotee of the prosperity gospel? A clinger to the famed Calvinist preferential option for the rich? Well, fairness obliges a link to Trailhead's Christopher Beam, who pooh-poohs anything of the sort (while castigating Clinton spokesman Howard Wolfson for fibbing about the words).

So "God Bless Us," in Clinton's Protestant lexicon, should just be taken as a kind of verbal hiccup, meaning something like, "Aren't we the fortunate ones!" The Jewish equivalent, which comes from an entirely different semantic place, is (as my grandmother pronounced it) kinna hurra. The actual Hebrew for that, transliterated, is "Kain Eyin Harrah," or "no evil eye." The point is, any verbal acknowledgment of something good must be followed by an imprecation that the evil eye stay away. As in, "My grandson just got into medical school, kinna hurra." Or, as Wolfson's grandmother might have put it, "Rich people like us--kinna hurra."

Hillary Clinton has a new ad out today in North Carolina. The commercial features a supporter, Jewel Hodges, speaking eloquently on why she supports Senator Clinton. The endorsement seems very reminiscent of John Winthrop's "City on a Hill" speech from 1630.

In last night's Commpassion Forum, Campbell Brown asked Hillary Clinton to name her favorite Bible story and she named...the story of Esther:

But clearly, for me, the recent Purim holiday for Jews raised the question of Esther. And I have been -- ever since I was a little girl -- a great admirer of Esther. And I used to ask that that be read to me over and over again, because there weren't too many models of women who had the opportunity to make a decision, to take a chance, a risk that, you know, was very courageous.

Hillary Clinton said that the question of her church attendance "is not relevant" for tonight's debate. Clinton went on to say “This is about what people feel is being said about them. I went to church on Easter. I mean, so?”