The Saddleback Forum, Part II: Barack Obama

I watched The Saddleback “Civil Forum on the Presidency” hosted by Pastor Rick Warren on Saturday, and I have to tell you, I was riveted. It was truly a well put together affair. There were no REALLY difficult questions, but there really weren’t any easy ones either.

I’m not going to go over every word Mister Obama said, and i’m not going to go in any particular order. I am going to give a quote or two and then an Impression of what I thought of the man and how i feel about his answers. His answers were Long and thoughtful, the antithesis of Senator McCain’s responses. Here are a few.

He was asked who were the three wisest people in his life. His Answer: He could not keep it just 3 people. He said on a personal level it would be his wife and grandmother, and drew a chuckle when he said his wife was the type to get in your face when he makes a mistake, to which Pastor Warren said, You too? Funny. He said he thought the best Foreign policy people he could rely on would be Sam Nunn and Dick Lugar, and also mentioned Tom Coburn and Ted Kennedy as others he thought fit that standard.

When he was asked what the greatest moral failure in his life was, he spoke of his experimenting with drugs and alcohol when he was a teenager.

He waffled on the Abortion question, when asked at what point does a baby get human rights, he said he could not answer with specificity, that it was “Beyond his pay scale” He did defend admirably I think his belief in Roe V. Wade, and said that he wanted to work to lower the amount of unwanted pregnancies in this country, a number which has not gone down despite a Pro-life President in the White House the last 8 years.

He handled the Tax/Wealth question with comparative ease. After joking with the Pastor about how rich he was, he said that any over $250,000, while not on easy street, you are in the top 3 or 4% and are doing well. He added that anyone who makes $150,000 or less will get a tax decrease, and anyone over $250,000 will get a modest tax increase.

He made points with the crowd during this segment by mentioning that it was irresponsible to have a war that costs $10,000,000,000 a month and have no way to pay for it.

He answered less questions than John McCain, because his answers were more in-depth than Sen. McCain’s answers were. But the answers he gave, in fact gave the impression that he cared a great deal about the plight of those he spoke about, whether it was the plight of orphans worldwide, or teachers not getting enough pay for their work.

I dislike the waffling on the Abortion Issue, but other then that I am fairly well pleased with the man’s performance tonight. He reached out to the crowd, which at times seemed unwilling to reach back to him, particularly on the abortion issue, but in the end, won them over with a flair for speaking to people, and speaking directly to their needs and making it known that he’ll work for them and with them.

A video of the event for your viewing pleasure:

Do you think Barack Obama has what it takes to be the next President of the United States of America? What do like most about him? What is least appealing to you about him? Drop me a line and let me Know!

Uncle Mikey