Boxers, Briefs, and Bible Verses...Oh My!

What a difference an ocean makes. On this side of the Atlantic, our presidential candidates get asked to quote their favorite Bible verse during a nationally televised debate, while in the UK everybody's in a tizzy because the new Prime Minister "did God" in a speech the other day. Note the unapologetic assumption on our part that our guys (and Hillary) are all good Christians.

In case you missed it, the question came in the last minutes of the televised Democratic presidential debate at Dartmouth in New Hampshire on Wednesday evening; I caught it during the 1 a.m. rebroadcast early Thursday morning. Moderator Tim Russert asked the question. And everybody (even Mike Gravel who didn't appear to know any Bible verses) obliged him politely rather than saying "It's none of your damn business" or "What the hell kind of question is that" or "Since when did Sunday School become a prequisite for the presidency" or any of the other things that popped into my head when I heard the question, all of a sudden VERY awake at an ungodly hour. Ironic, I know.

Now, the truth is, I was very interested in their answers.

Here's a summary:

Clinton - The Golden Rule (not a bad rule for politics, either, she said; funny but shallow)

Obama - The Sermon on the Mount (I think he might have said something to explain his choice but, honestly, it sounded a little too much like he just pulled it out of his butt; i mean, what is the sermon on the mount about, anyway??; does Obama mean that if you get divorced you commit adultery?; what exactly in this long passage are you referring to Mr. Senator, sir?; do you even really know what's in it?)

Richardson - He quickly and rather obviously copied Obama's answer (even worse)

Edwards - "Whatever you do to the least of these, you do to Me." (the only one on the stage who actually quoted a verse and, by the way, it aligns pretty impressively with his fight poverty campaign; all in all Edwards came off as the most sincere guy of the evening - he actually just said "yes" and "no" to some questions! - and this answer to this question felt as real as anything can feel in such a surreal situation)

Kucinich - The Prayer of St. Francis (he carries it in his pocket, which is notable and kind of nerdy-cool, but it isn't exactly a Bible verse; he also carries a copy of the constitution in his pocket)

Biden - he said something like "all those verses about not being like the Pharisees" (a not-so-subtle slam against the Radical Right and others who use religion to futher political agendas...the best answer of the night, I thought...shows off both his knowlege of the Bible and his confidence in dealing with religious jerks...like Tim Russert, perhaps?)

That being said, is this the kind of question we want our presidential candidates being judged on? And do we really want it assumed that the president of the United States will be (HAS to be) a Christian??

I feel very mixed about all this.

And I'm wishing today that Russert hadn't asked the question. At least not in this forum. And not with the assumption that everybody ought to have an answer.

The straight talking blogger at Irregular Times isn't too happy about all this, either. He made up his own G#$ D*#& Bible verse for moderator Tim Russert to chew on.

I must say that it did help me settle down a bit when I wandered over to the debate chat at Yahoo Answers where somebody had asked this question, "Do you feel asking for favorite Bible verses is appropriate at a presidential debate?" One commenter decided, "If people can ask stupid things like 'boxer or briefs,' then yes."

That really helped put things in perspective for me.

What do you think?

Comments

[The Simpleton]

It's all about fake product differentiation, just like the soft drinks. What would have been really interesting would be to ask the follow-up question "and how would you apply that to the war in Iraq?"

In fact, the question wouldn't be offensive at all if you asked for the candidate's favorite scriptural--no, *guiding*--text (Muslims, Buddhists and atheists could play, although Wiccans might take umbrage) and then asked how it would influence decisions about, say, healthcare in the United States.

[Tom in Ontario]

It's ridiculous. A follow up questions could have been "What's your favourite verse in the Quran." The way our population is changing in Canada we might see a Muslim or Hindu or Buddhist Prime Minister in a generation or two, more likely and Atheist.

I think a fair question might be something along the lines of "What role would your faith play in the way you might preside as president." That might be an interesting answer and they might not be pulling silly answers out of their butts or quoting a favourite Bible verse from St. Francis.