Evangelicals For Obama?

Two recent news pieces have caught my eye, both indicating that Christian evangelicals may be supporting the idea of an Obama presidency, but for radically different reasons.

On one side you have evangelicals who, like the rest of us, are sick of the Republicans:

For decades, evangelicals have been seen as solid supporters of the Republican Party. That could be changing.

The religious right, a cornerstone of the so-called Reagan revolution -- the battle over abortion law, and gay marriage -- wants a change.

At least some evangelicals do.

A group of influential Christian leaders are declaring they are tired of divisive politics, tired of watching fights over some issues trump all the good they could be doing....

For Democrats, the timing is good. The party has been pushing to overcome the "faith gap," that many feel has hurt them with church-going voters.

The WSJ is even more explicit:

If he’s the nominee, Obama has a real chance at winning substantial evangelical support.

First, evangelicals are in a period of de-alignment from the Republican Party. The leading evangelical pollster George Barna found that only 29% of “born again” Christians now say they support Republicans, compared with 62% in 2004. That doesn’t mean they’ll flock to Democrats -– they could end up voting Republican just as much ever -– but large numbers are up for grabs.

But Robert Novak thinks there could be another portion of the evangelical vote who crave an Obama presidency in much the same way they crave an all-out bloodbath in the Middle East -- because it might hasten the apocalypse:

One experienced, credible activist in Christian politics who would not let his name be used told me that Huckabee, in personal conversation with him, had embraced the concept that an Obama presidency might be what the American people deserve. That fits what has largely been a fringe position among evangelicals: that the pain of an Obama presidency is in keeping with the Bible's prophecy.

According to this activist, at the heart of the let-Obama-win movement is longtime Virginia conservative leader Michael Farris -- the nation's leading home-school advocate, who is now chancellor of Patrick Henry College (in Purcellville, Va.) for home-schooled students. Best known politically as the losing Republican candidate for lieutenant governor of Virginia in 1993, Farris is regarded as one of the hardest-edged Christian politicians. He is reported in evangelical circles to promote the biblical justification for an Obama plague-like presidency.

Now this is just batshit loony, but if true it wouldn't bode well for McCain. You see, unlike George W. Bush, McCain is not a very religious guy. He doesn't talk about his faith, he doesn't even know if he's an Episcopalian or a Baptist, he's denounced (and re-embraced) Falwell and Robertson, and he just doesn't have a lot of cred with evangelicals. That's why he can't distance himself from Hagee or Rod Parsley -- it would be another slap in the face to the lunatic fringe of the Republican base.

But if these same evangelicals split away from McCain because they think an Obama presidency is God's will, he's in trouble. I don't remember any talk like this in 2004, because evangelicals loved Bush and thought HE was God's chosen one. If they start thinking Obama is the chosen one (albeit for less favorable reasons), then they might just stay home in November and let His will be done.

Evangelicals composed one third of Bush's vote in 2004. If McCain can't keep them together, he'll lose the election. And right now there are signs that evangelicals could be hemorrhaging from both sides.