Obama’s spiritual life takes more private turnAs early as 2007, one poll indicated, Obama was seen as “strongly religious’’ by more voters than every presidential candidate except Republican Mitt Romney, whose Mormonism was the subject of intense news coverage.
Obama’s courtship of religious groups in the 2008 race - the most extensive ever by a Democratic candidate for president - paid off on Election Day with strong support among liberal and moderate religious voters. He won 54 percent of the Catholic vote, a stark reversal from four years earlier, when Senator John F. Kerry of Massachusetts, himself Catholic, lost the same group to Bush. ...
He named a best-selling book after a pastor’s sermon and was outspoken as a candidate about the value of faith in public life. He infused stump speeches with phrases like “I am my brother’s keeper,’’ and made his journey to Christianity a central theme of the life story he shared with voters.
But since President Obama took office a year ago, his faith has largely receded from public view. He has attended church in the capital only four times, and worshiped half a dozen times at a secluded Camp David chapel. He prays privately, reads a “daily devotional’’ that aides send to his BlackBerry, and talks to pastors by phone, but seldom frames policies in spiritual terms.
The greater privacy reflects not a slackening of devotion, but a desire to shield his spirituality from the maw of politics and strike an inclusive tone at a time of competing national priorities and continuing partisan division, according to people close to the White House on faith issues.
“There are several ways that he is continuing to grow in his faith, all of them - or practically of all them - he’s trying to keep as private and personal as possible so they will not be politicized,’’ said Pastor Joel C. Hunter, who is part of an inner circle of pastors the president consults by phone for spiritual guidance.
On the other, Barack Obama's golf game has grown dramatically more public once he reached his life's goal.
Look, wouldn't the simplest explanation be that Obama was just yanking our chains about the Jesus stuff? That, as he admitted he was told in 1985, he'd need to join a church in Chicago if he expected to have a political career on the South Side. So he picked out the most radically leftist upscale one available? That he gave $53,770 to Rev. Wright's Church in 2005-2007 in gratitude for helping him establish his blackness? As Alison Samuels reported in Newsweek on why Oprah quit Wright's Church in the 1990s but Obama would not:
Friends of Sen. Barack Obama, whose relationship with Wright has rocked his bid for the White House, insist that it would be unfair to compare Winfrey’s decision to leave Trinity United with his own decision to stay. “[His] reasons for attending Trinity were totally different,” said one campaign adviser, who declined to be named discussing the Illinois senator’s sentiments. “Early on, he was in search of his identity as an African-American and, more importantly, as an African-American man. Reverend Wright and other male members of the church were instrumental in helping him understand the black experience in America. Winfrey wasn’t going for that. She’s secure in her blackness, so that didn’t have a hold on her.”
My published articles are archived at iSteve.com -- Steve Sailer
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65 comments:
"He prays privately, reads a "daily devotional" that aides send to his BlackBerry, and talks to pastors by phone"
In other words, he says grace before dinner, reads text messages, and politicks/networks with his only reliable base. This guy's a wooden nickel to the core.
Look, wouldn't the simplest explanation be that Obama was just yanking our chains about the Jesus stuff?
Obviously. Which is why the people running around screaming about how Obama was a black nationalist socialist seemed, and seem, so out to lunch. It's quite obvious to intelligent observers that the man is a social climber at heart, not a radical.
If you're familiar with the New Age beliefs espoused by Oprah and friends, you'll recognize their verbiage in Obama's speeches. They use a lot of Christian-sounding terms like "Christ consciousness" and "divine" this and that, so people think it's Christianity Lite, but it's actually a form of self-worship. Hence Obama's statement that sin is "being out of alignment with my values." Where he says "my values" a Christian would say "God's law."
So Obama does have religious beliefs, but they aren't anything that most Americans would recognize as religion, since they don't involve church or worship or anything much other than feeling good about oneself.
JFK of all people worked very hard to get the Protestant vote in 1960.
Jimmy Carter worked hard and got the Southern Baptist vote in 1976 and then proceded to work hard at losing it with his White House Conference on Families in 1978.
Ronald Reagan never quite made it to church very much, either.
The true Obama legacy is experience will matter more than ever.
We didn't know anything about Obama, but we will know a lot about our next president.
He will be older than 55 years and he will have a long track record with at least 10 years of life in the national spotlight.
Jeb Bush fits this profile.
Obama is the creature of SWPL. The new age spiritual beliefs that Anonymous cites are quite common among SWPL, particularly women.
Both of whom conveniently form his base. Women (and SWPL in general) don't like traditional Christianity with its strictures on behavior particularly sexual.
"Reached his life goal?"
When did Obama get promoted to Mayor of Chicago?
"Look, wouldn't the simplest explanation be that Obama was just yanking our chains about the Jesus stuff?"
Yeah. When asked how they reconcile their hatred of Christianity with Obama's allegedly devout Christianity, lefties I argued with inevitably claimed he was a secret atheist, which I happen to believe too. He tipped his hand with the "clinging to guns and religion" slip. I really have to wonder about Bush too; I heard his born again Christianity was spurred by yet another drunken episode.
Up here in Canada PM Harper is allegedly an evangelical Christian. He worked as a computer programmer in his early 20s. The two facts don't jibe, not to me at least.
I'm a programmer and they are among the most anti-religious people I've encountered. One doesn't become a programmer, then an evangelical Christian, not unless there's one hot piece of ass or politics involved, and both seem to explain Harper's getting religion. Perhaps not coincidentally, Christians are flocking to Harper's Conservative party, Catholics in particular.
Why does the president have to go to church?
I'm a programmer and they are among the most anti-religious people I've encountered. One doesn't become a programmer, then an evangelical Christian, not unless there's one hot piece of ass or politics involved, and both seem to explain Harper's getting religion.
Larry Wall, uber-nerd computer programmer and inventor of Perl is an evangelical.
Liberal Protestantism itself generally rejects the strictures of traditional Christianity, especially on sexual behavior. So it can be hard to tell the difference between a New Ager, a crypto-atheist, and a squishy Christian.
I think he's a squish myself. Hasn't he name-dropped Niehbuhr several times?
As a narcissist, Obama believes he is his own higher power. Facades are adopted or discarded according to their utility in charming the public.He's been good at avoiding being figured out, letting people project their hopes onto him. By the time they realize they've been slicked he'll have moved on.
A "cargo cult" mistakenly assumes the formal cause is a substitute for the efficient cause.
You can build a skyscraper in a desert, but you don't need a skyscraper unless you need high population density.
As for the Obama image, if he looks like a leader, people will think he's a leader. He's just going through the motions.
http://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2010/02/cargo_cult_president.html
I suspect that Obama's true religious home is in a sort of eastern pantheism - much more Avatar than The Passion of the Christ. It is refreshing that he finds Christianity bankrupt, because it it.
The Churches he tends to gravitate towards hold extreme views. At Camp David, he listens to Lt. Carey Cash, a Southern Baptist. The SBC, since the fundamentalist takeover is a far right religious organization, led by head honcho and nut, Albert Mohler.
Does anyone know where he attends Church? I'd imagine it is probably at a liberal Christian church, but as not as black power oriented at his previous Chicago Church. Either way, liberal Christianity preaches a great deal of moral relativism, so I doubt it has any effect on Obama.
I'd rather him not attend church, if he is choosing between the two above options.
Play golf. It is much more neutral.
I hope he doesn't make the mistake of invoking God in his decisions like Bush.
I can see it already, "GOD said we need universal care, it is in HIS will". :)
Look, wouldn't the simplest explanation be that Obama was just yanking our chains about the Jesus stuff?
That would be a reasonable explanation, and is most likely the correct one, and it certainly explains Bill Clinton. However you shouldn't forget that half of Obama's DNA comes from probably the most superstitious race on Planet Earth. Maybe for him it really is for real. You have to remember that it might be somewhat difficult for the most powerful man on earth to attend a regular congregation. Are they going to ask him to trach Sunday School?
As for Oprah leaving Wright's church, I'm willing to wager that her reason for leaving was much the same as Obama's. Had people then known of the racism routinely part of Wright's sermons it could have tanked her ratings.
It's quite obvious to intelligent observers that the man is a social climber at heart, not a radical.
Nope. Obama is all about resdistributing the goodies to his favorite folks. It's what has put his re-election in jeopardy. I have no cluse why he chooses to identify with blacks over whites, even though he actually shares slightly more DNA with whites than with blacks, and even though the only loyal family he had were white. Perhaps the gene for black racism is dominant?
Clinton, on the other hand, was about self first, ideology second.
Liberal Protestantism itself generally rejects the strictures of traditional Christianity, especially on sexual behavior.
Liberal Protestantism - SWPL Protestantism - more or less acts as though the entire Old Testament doesn't exist. To them Christiantity is a "religion of compassion," with all the parts about sin and obedience left out.
Larry Wall, uber-nerd computer programmer and inventor of Perl is an evangelical.
And the creators of Novell and WordPerfect were devout Mormons. That dude doesn't really know of what he speaks.
like us sed:The Boston Globe hypothesizes
Well it is nice to have a President who takes religion as seriously as I do :)
I've always thought Obama was a waffling agnostic.
I believe in the Audacity of Hope, one of his daughters asks him about heaven. Now if Obama was the ardent believer he claims to be, his answer would have been simply: "Good people go to heaven, bad people don't." Or something along those lines (I'm not saying he has to go all Jonathan Edwards on his young daughter).
But instead, he says: "I was unable to answer my daughter about heaven; I wondered if I should have told her the truth - that I was not sure what happens when we die; anymore than I was sure of where the soul resides or what existed before the big bang."
That's not the answer of a devoted Christian. That's the answer of a secular agnostic.
"I'm a programmer and they are among the most anti-religious people I've encountered.'
However I have read that there is a very high rate of belief in ritual magic among IT people.
It is discussed in this book by TM Luhrmann:
http://www.amazon.com/Persuasions-Witchs-Craft-Contemporary-England/dp/0674663241
I'd be worried about a political leader of any stripe giving any more than lip service to the church.
The left can't truly embrace the church without appearing as hypocrites because they reject just about all traditional Christian dogma.
The right can't truly embrace the church because it has drifted into being a nebulous, happy-clappy, multi-culti, morass of new age values that is a long way from conservative ideals.
This is completely off topic, but I figured it would rile up this blog. The BBC is running a story about a new maternity leave law in the EU. They placed what appears to be a politically selected picture to accompany the story.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/8533438.stm
I have not been to Europe. Could someone please let me know if this picture is representative of the UK in particular and the EU in general. For example, would this picture represent 5%, 10%, 20% or more of UK and EU mothers?
"The greater privacy reflects not a slackening of devotion, but a desire to shield his spirituality..."
Hilarious. :)
Do people care that they elected an atheist? Here in Europe most lefties are atheist. Surely he's not the first atheist President either.
However I have read that there is a very high rate of belief in ritual magic among IT people
It's the other way around. A lot of people who do ritual magick went into IT. Part of this is geographic coincidence.
@Veritas
As of the most recent article I read, which was in the last few weeks, Barry and Michelle have not yet chosen a DC church to attend.
So he doesn't believe all that Jesus stuff, eh? I guess that's one way in which he hasn't been a disappointment.
Obama is as religious as Ronald Reagan was...which is to say, not very much at all, and mainly when it's convenient for him. Reagan attended church even less than Obama.
This is typical. Which post-WWII presidents were actually deeply religious? Jimmy Carter, and maybe GW Bush. Not an inspiring pair of examples.
It must be very frustrating for him to be able to play only 24 times a year. He's a decent athlete, the kind of guy who--starting golf in his thirties--might be able to aspire to an 8 handicap after ten years of so. But that requires much more range and practice time then he can get. He still pretty much sucks, so far as I can tell, and it must really bug him.
Gore Vidal points out that the ruling class in this country has always been discreetly agnostic.
As exhibit A to bolster the above contention, I offer this quote from America's last competent President, Dwight David Eisenhower:
"Our government has no sense unless it is founded in a deeply felt religious faith, and I don't care what it is."
Being basically an atheist myself, if I had to go to church for political reasons I'd probably be like Obama and pick some radical church to attend just so I could stay interested. I find the crazy theologies of Wright or white Pentecostals or fundamentalist Mormons much more interesting than some the sermons at an anodyne Episcopalian or tired RC Church.
please please *purty* please tell me i didn't just read the name "jeb bush" in a comment about possible 2012 presidential contenders.
i don't care if jeb is the reincarnation of george washington or jesus junior, i think the bush family has done quite enough to this country, thanks.
oh, it's not like poppy and GW didn't have an AGENDA they followed to the letter - it's just that A)that agenda was essentially the opposite of the 'conservatism' they (pretended to) espouse, and B)even though they never admitted to it or bothered to tall us what the agenda might be, observation showed us that it didn't include "looking after the best interests of the USA".
no reason to think jeb wouldn't be just more of the same. may God's curse light upon the entire bush crime famiglia. may their likes never again darken the doors of ANY executive mansion. send obama packing? sure, great. but there's gotta be another way than the 'bush' nuclear option.
"OhioStater said...
We didn't know anything about Obama, but we will know a lot about our next president.
He will be older than 55 years and he will have a long track record with at least 10 years of life in the national spotlight.
Jeb Bush fits this profile."
He will also NOT be a bush. Jeb bush does not fit THAT profile. Have we not done with the Bush family? Who but an idiot would ever again vote for a member of that self-entitled clan of patricians? I'd no more vote for a Bush - any Bush - than I'd vote for a Clinton - any Clinton.
"I'm a programmer and they are among the most anti-religious people I've encountered."
That's not my experience. I have a brother and two cousins who are computer programmers. My brother is by far the most religious in the family, and my cousins are at least regular church-goers.
So, if there's a correlation between programming and atheism, I doubt it's strongly predictive.
Besides, someone who does programming for a couple of years in their early 20s doesn't necessarily fit the classic programmer personality. (Though, in fairness, Harper comes across like one.)
It's funny because I remember how every press release the campaign came out with when Obama threw Wright under the bus was at great pains to emphasize that he and his family were certainly going to pick a new church to go to, they just needed time to get to Washington and settle in before selecting one of DC's many fine houses of worship.
1+ year after the Inauguration, of course, they haven't bothered. Steve was right, it was about appearances.
There have been POTUSes who were urged to regularly attend services but had the personal honesty to not put up a facade. Reagan of course, but also interestingly Warren Harding, who was President in a far more "churched" nation than we have now, but still couldn't bring himself to be a public hypocrite.
Obama supporters say he attended Wright's church for the Jesus talk, which he loves, not for the hate whitey ranting, which he tolerated (or missed, somehow).
Plainly it's the other way around.
Well Scott Brown disqualified himself (jobs bill). Palin will be too old and won't be hot anymore. Romney disqualified himself (endorsing McCain). Who's left for the GOP, Pawlenty? Thune? Ron Paul?
I think Obama will face a primary challenge and step aside gracefully, but let's assume he's the Democratic nominee. Let's also assume there is a slight Republican majority in Congress by 2012.
Better question is, if it's either Jeb Bush, or 4 more years of Obama, what would you take?
"That he gave $53,770 to Rev. Wright's Church in 2005-2007 in gratitude for helping him establish his blackness?"
Kind of like changing his name from Barry to Barrack and associating only with commies and other left-wing radicals in college (not to mention more than a few afterward as well). It also matches up with his choosing of an unattractive and domineering professional black woman with an Ivy League education AND working class, South Side Chicago bonafides. Their pairing up was even more calculated than the Bill and Hillary
Someone - perhaps Gibbon - wrote of the pagan religion of classical antiquity, that by the first century AD, it was believed by the common folk, disbelieved by the philosophers, and useful to the rulers. Christianity has reached about the same stage in twenty-first century America.
We might do well to distinguish the following categories within the educated class from which today's rulers are drawn:
1) Active disbelievers. They are noisy atheists of the Richard Dawkins or Christopher Hitchens variety. These are people who actually make a religion out of their atheism, preaching it and proselytising for it. This appeals to too narrow a segment of the population for any of its votaries to achieve a nation- or state-wide elected political office; however, some localities may elect persons holding such views, and they are widespread amongst appointed officials.
2) Quiet non-believers. These are people for whom religion is personally unimportant and they are just indifferent to it - as they are to the vociferous atheist of the active disbelievers. Among presidents, Lincoln, as well as Harding and Reagan (mentioned by MQ and Anon)appear to have been people of this type.
3) Dissimulating unbelievers. These are people for whom religion provides some sort of a facade, which they believe will make them acceptable to or respectable in the view of others who expect it of them. It is to this class that Obama appears to me to have belonged when he lived in Chicago and attended Wright's church. He now appears to be in transition between this and the quiet non-belief of class 2. As a local politician with a believing and observantly religious constituency, such "occasional conformity" was a greater necessity than it is to him now as President. Now he has a less local, less black, and less relgious constituency, in the national left-wing base of the Democratic party. These people are mostly white, and members of classes 1 and 2. Dissimulating observance does not serve him well with many of these people, and indeed is probably accepted only as a negroid quirk.
4) Socially observant unbelievers. These people may seem somewhat hard to distinguish from class 3, but differ from it by feeling some genuine attachment to their ancestral religious tradition - not, however, for religious reasons, but rather as parts of their social or cultural identity. The most obvious example is that of the "ethnic Jew" who does not keep kosher or observe the sabbath, but who identifies himself as Jewish and makes his religion out of support for Israel, remembrance of the Holocaust, etc. As prominent as these particular representatives of the socially observant class may be, they are not unique. I have known people who might be described as "ethnic Episcopalians." Many years ago a friend of mine was a vestryman of his Episcopal church and told me of reviewing a list of its parishioners. Some, he noted, had the mysterious initials "B.P.O." written after their names. He asked the rector what they meant. That reverend gentleman replied - "burial purposes only." Needless to say, there were lots of BPOs on the list.
"I think Obama will face a primary challenge and step aside gracefully, "
Are you high?
Do you think the blacks will turn out to vote for the democratic nominee if white democrats reject a sitting president for whitey? Blacks, unlike white democrats will never admit Obama has done anything wrong and will think democrats are the racists they are. Obama only won because every black and far lefty turned out. Those folks won't be there for a moderate democrat like Mondale.
Anon:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/8533438.stm
White mother, black child - pretty common here in London, but not elsewhere in the UK. Somewhere around 7-10% of all London mothers; far less for the UK as a whole.
What's perhaps more notable is that the mother is 'middle class' looking; the great majority of white mothers with black children are working to lower class.
Religion aside, I think we can all give an AMEN for nichts, nein, no-how, no more Bushes in ANY national office.
Now people say Jeb was the best of the lot, and that may be true. But dog bite you once, dog's fault. Dog bite you twice, your fault.
We DO NOT need a third bite.
"OhioStater said...
Better question is, if it's either Jeb Bush, or 4 more years of Obama, what would you take?"
Obama. Hands down. He is far less damaging to conservatism as a viable political movement, as the last year has demonstrated.
"Better question is, if it's either Jeb Bush, or 4 more years of Obama, what would you take?"
Obama, no question. Atleast with Obama there will be a coherent opposition bloc. Jeb Bush is even more of a pro immigration fanatic than his brother and would be able to get a lot of Republican votes for amnesty.
What do you mean, "changing his name"? "Barry" was only his high school nickname. He was born "Barack" and has been known by that name for most of his life.
"Palin will be too old to be hot."
Palin will look not too much different than now and she's better looking than anybody else on the agenda. She is not presidential material but that hasn't mattered since the 2000 election.
"Better question is, if it's either Jeb Bush, or 4 more years of Obama, what would you take?"
Bush, Obot. And I'm an Independant who'd prefer Ron Paul.
While I admit finding BO repellant, I never liked Bush II either. Thing is, at least we wouldn't have rumors of Jeb's "intelligence" shoved down our throats 24/7, while our lyin' eyes watch an empty suit read a teleprompter somebody else wrote on. At least we could be honest about "POTUS" without tremulous worries of being considered "racist."
We've discovered it isn't worth it just to pat ourselves on the backs for having "elected" (MSM really did that) a "black" president.
Even a Bush will be a relief after 3 more years of Obama. In fact, he'd have been a relief to me after 3 months of BO.
About a Bush you can at least be honest. If BO's nose isn't in the air while talking down to American citizens, his rear-end is in the air bowing where no president has gone before. You have to wonder why he was so keen to be an American president. It wasn't because he wanted to help Americans.
Now Jeb--he'd at least know how to act like he was pro-American. To paraphrase, "Pretense is the price vice pays to virtue."
And we wouldn't have to pretend he was smart.
I think of Christian religion as I think of gun ownership. I might not want to do it myself, but the entire nation would be better off if lots more people did it, so I honor them.
My personal experience with religious people are they are good people - wanting to do good and trying to be moral. My son has two african american friends from families who attend curch every sunday - solid families.
Every neighbor who has a gun makes it that much more dangerous for anyone to invade my home.
"Who's left for the GOP, Pawlenty? Thune? Ron Paul?"
You Paultards need to get your heads out of your asses. The old coot doesn't even believe in evolution, much less HBD and being a libertarian, his fight against illegal immigration is only half-hearted and he wants to increase legal immigration. Ron Paul is part of the problem, not the solution.
"Better question is, if it's either Jeb Bush, or 4 more years of Obama, what would you take?"
Just as in 2008 I won't vote if this is the case. If there is no real option outside the slop offered up by the prevailing duopoly, such as a "none of the above" option, they can misrule without my vote.
"Better question is, if it's either Jeb Bush, or 4 more years of Obama, what would you take?"
You're just cruel.
Well Scott Brown disqualified himself (jobs bill). Palin will be too old and won't be hot anymore. Romney disqualified himself (endorsing McCain).
Oh good hell, WTF? Romney disqualified himself by endorsing McCain?
McCain would have been a horrible president. I did not even vote for him. Yet even I can't fault Romney for endorsing him. That's what you're supposed to do. That's the gentlemanly thing to do, and, having closely watched the Chaffetz/Cannon race in Utah, which hinged on immigration, I can tell you that Cannon looked like an angry lunatic when he hesitated about endorsing Chaffetz.
Romney was running for the Republican nomination for president. If he had gotten it, he would have expected the entire GOP establishment to close ranks in support of him, because parties are coalitions of generally like-minded people. Having lost it, however, he was obliged to endorse the victor.
As I said, I didn't vote for McCain. I think he would've been a horrible president and, for strategic reasons - the fact that the recovery was going to be slow no matter who was president - I think it's good that he lost. I think McCain would have further tarnished the GOP brand name. But Romney had a moral obligation to endorse McCain and you cannot fault him at all for doing so.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/8533438.stm
I have not been to Europe. Could someone please let me know if this picture is representative of the UK in particular and the EU in general. For example, would this picture represent 5%, 10%, 20% or more of UK and EU mothers?
Where I live, in a working-class neighborhood of the Paris region, such a picture is not uncommon. Maybe 20% in my neighborhood, and 5% nationally.
According to unofficial estimates, made several years ago, the Paris Region is one sixth black (where I live, it may be one third). Contrary to what Americans think, young black males were at the core of the 2005 riots in France, not young Arabs.
In my neighborhood gangs are now black. They used to be North-Arican Arab ten years ago, but it looks like the blacks have dislodged them.
Young black guys do the rioting in France for the same reasons they end up doing the football running back chores in America: 1- they're good at it and 2- it's a job others are reluctant to do.
Young guys of other races tend to calculate the cost benefit analysis of such actions and decide against moving forward.
Quiet non-believers. These are people for whom religion is personally unimportant and they are just indifferent to it - as they are to the vociferous atheist of the active disbelievers. Among presidents, Lincoln
Lincoln is an interesting case. Based on the (great) Second Inauguaral, he may have reached a sort of mystic quasi-religious vision close to the end of his life -- influenced by Biblical Christianity and classical ideas of fate, tragedy, etc.
"Nations have not given up so far, but unless economic growth increases significantly, there will be defaults in many places eventually."
Was "Jimmy" President James Carter's high school nickname? Just asking.
"Mark said...
Romney was running for the Republican nomination for president. If he had gotten it, he would have expected the entire GOP establishment to close ranks in support of him, because parties are coalitions of generally like-minded people. Having lost it, however, he was obliged to endorse the victor.
I think McCain would have further tarnished the GOP brand name. But Romney had a moral obligation to endorse McCain and you cannot fault him at all for doing so."
True that parties are coalitions of like minded people. Which is why - based on Romney's endorsement of McCain - that Romney and McCain are likeminded as well. By the way, the endorsement that started this thread was not Romney's endorsement of McCain for President in 2008, it was his endorsement of McCain for the Senate in 2010. Romney - this year - went out of his way to endorse McCain in his (now, iffy) reelection bid for 2010. He didn't have to do this. And he shouldn't have. McCain needs to lose this fall - and lose big. Pour encourager les autres.
Vote for Romney? Never. He's just another establishment republican.
"I have not been to Europe. Could someone please let me know if this picture is representative of the UK in particular and the EU in general. For example, would this picture represent 5%, 10%, 20% or more of UK and EU mothers?"
For the country as a whole? Or for Greater London? She's quite well dressed with a white woman with a 'braawn babee' as Simon says.
That kid has a massive forehead...
I remember having a discussion with few other Europeans, from various nations, about how George W. Bush's approval in Europe would probably have actually gone up if he had been caught cheating on his wife; not because people would particularly approve of his cheating but because it would go to show that his Christianity was only a sham and he didn't actually believe in all that stuff about God directly talking to him and so on. Better a sleaze than a madman.
The greater privacy reflects not a slackening of devotion, but a desire to shield his spirituality...
Whatever happened to press cynicism? As Russell Baker wrote, "Wise up, man! Don't be a sap!"
http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1842&dat=19910802&id=PlAeAAAAIBAJ&sjid=ZccEAAAAIBAJ&pg=2918,169694
Tatu said, "I remember having a discussion with few other Europeans, from various nations, about how George W. Bush's approval in Europe would probably have actually gone up if he had been caught cheating on his wife."
What about if he had been caught cheating with another man?
What about if he had been caught cheating with another man?
The French minister of culture, Frédéric Mitterrand (a nephew of late president François Mitterrand) wrote in his memoirs how he paid for sex with "des gosses" (kids) in Thailand... Later he said that the "kids" were all above 18 years of age! Sarkozy confirmed him in his job, and here in France we're supposed to have a conservative government...
I'm a programmer and they are among the most anti-religious people I've encountered
Anti-Christian, maybe, but not anti-religious. Most of the programmers I know are neo-pagans, Wiccans, New Agers, ritual magic(k)ians, Thelemites, Satanists, Sub-Genii, even Zen Buddhists.
Everything Obama learned about diplomacy he learned in kindergarten and it is us, the Americans who are paying for him not learing good lessons in the childhood. Hope his putting America on the path of "set a good example and others will follow" philosphy works!
Cynthia
"Everything Obama learned about diplomacy he learned in kindergarten..."
And his predecessors have done such an excellent job.
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