American Prospect blogger Paul Waldman considered President Obama’s Thursday remarks about evil done in the name of Christianity unexceptionable, since Obama was “talking about old history. You'd have to be nuts to find in that some kind of insult to Christians or to America…Or you'd have to be a Republican.”
Of course, the “high horse” section of Obama’s speech at the National Prayer Breakfast drew plenty of criticism. That didn’t surprise Waldman, who noted that “many on the right believe that there is…an actual religious war between Christianity and Islam” and added that “this kind of religious fundamentalism usually goes hand-in-hand with a political fundamentalism that says that political figures must constantly assert not only that America is exceptional…but that America has never done anything wrong. Obama's willingness to admit that the country has made mistakes in the past positively infuriates conservatives.”
Waldman advocated that Obama skip next year’s National Prayer Breakfast and instead “hold his own inter-faith breakfast at the White House, one geared more toward understanding and less toward proclamations of the one true faith. Of course, conservatives would be apoplectic if he did that, saying that it just shows how he hates Jesus and hates America. Which is exactly what they say anyway. So why not?”
From Waldman’s Friday post (emphasis added):
President Obama appeared at the National Prayer Breakfast [Thursday], and as always happens, conservatives were terribly offended and outraged at his remarks. Why? It's because Obama doesn't share their political and religious fundamentalism…
…[O]f course awful things have been done in the name of many religions, and when Obama mentions the Crusades, the Inquisition, and the religious justifications given for slavery, he's talking about old history. You'd have to be nuts to find in that some kind of insult to Christians or to America.
Or you'd have to be a Republican…
Part of the problem here has to do with the National Prayer Breakfast itself. Everyone in government and the media treats it as though it's an official government event, and one meant for Americans of all faiths to take a pause from the political arguments of the day and contemplate deeper truths…But in truth, the breakfast is sponsored by a private group of Christian fundamentalists who have no interest in inter-faith understanding. Most of the people who are there seem to understand that the event is about proclaiming Jesus as the one true savior…
This comes at a time when many on the right believe that there is not just a "clash of civilizations" going on, but an actual religious war between Christianity and Islam...
This kind of religious fundamentalism usually goes hand-in-hand with a political fundamentalism that says that political figures must constantly assert not only that America is exceptional—which Obama has done dozens of times in speeches and comments over the course of his presidency—but that America has never done anything wrong. Obama's willingness to admit that the country has made mistakes in the past positively infuriates conservatives. If pressed they'll admit that, sure, slavery was bad—but you shouldn't just bring it up!
And of course, it's fine for them to criticize government policies they don't like, because when they do that they're only making a narrow argument about the other party's actions, but when Obama does something like condemn the torture policies of his predecessor's administration, he's attacking America.
I'd certainly prefer it if Obama never went to another one of these. He could say that…since he's the president of all Americans, he'd prefer to hold his own inter-faith breakfast at the White House, one geared more toward understanding and less toward proclamations of the one true faith. Of course, conservatives would be apoplectic if he did that, saying that it just shows how he hates Jesus and hates America. Which is exactly what they say anyway. So why not?
