WTF?
As religious conservatives gather in Washington this weekend for the "Values Voters Summit," Senator Barack Obama's campaign announced its latest effort to attract people of faith to the campaign: a gospel concert tour.All three of the dates of the "Embrace the Change" tour are in South Carolina, where Mr. Obama is locked in battle with Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton for black voters.
Gospel acts including Mary Mary, Donnie McClurkin and Hezekiah Walker, Byron Cage and the Mighty Clouds of Joy are scheduled to appear.
"This is another example of how Barack Obama is defying conventional wisdom about how politics is done and giving new meaning to meeting people at the grassroots level," Joshua DuBois, the campaign's religious affairs director, said in a release. "This concert tour is going to bring new people into the political process and engage people of faith in an unprecedented way."
That's not the WTF part. The WTF part comes from AMERICAblog, who notes an old Washington Post story on one of these singers:
Gospel singer Donnie McClurkin, who has detailed his struggle with gay tendencies and vowed to battle "the curse of homosexuality," said yesterday he'll perform as scheduled at the Republican National Convention on Thursday, despite controversy over his view that sexuality can be changed by religious intervention."I can't let off. I didn't call myself -- God called me to do what I do," McClurkin told The Post's Hamil R. Harris. The Grammy winner declared, "If this is a war, we are willing to fight. Not a war of violence, but a war of purpose."
So, the "new people" Obama is going to bring "into the political process" by hanging out with them are committed to the idea that homosexuality is a curse that can be cured by religious devotion. Well, perhaps that's fine for them. But what is Barack Obama courting these people for? Is this a crucial segment of the Iowa caucus he needs to win next year? I just don't understand why Democrats keep pandering to these people instead of ignoring them. Not because I don't think they have a place in the political process but that there is already a place in the political process for them. It's called the Republican party.