Compare And Contrast

If these were presentations by seminary students in the Faith and Politics class I used to T.A., then one of these would get an A and the other a charitable C-.

Obama offers a concise, clear and confident description of why the separation of church and state is necessary to protect both the church and the state. He has clearly thought this through. He knows what he thinks and believes and he presents a compelling, persuasive case for why others ought to agree with him.

McCain is anything but concise, clear or confident. He does not seem to know what he thinks or believes, or at best he is unable to articulate whatever that might be. He does not seem to have thought this through.

I appreciate McCain’s attempt to speak with candor here — it’s immensely preferable to, say, George W. Bush’s recitation of poll-tested, rehearsed platitudes crafted for maximum appeal to “values voters.” But it is impossible to speak with candor if you don’t already know what it is you believe. McCain appears in this interview to be nervously hoping that he’ll stumble across what he actually thinks and believes if he just keeps talking, but he never quite gets there.

My point here is not that I agree with Sen. Obama and disagree with Sen. McCain. I do agree with Obama, but McCain never quite manages to say anything coherent enough for us to agree or disagree with him. Nor is it clear, watching that interview, that he even agrees with everything he’s hearing himself say.

Much will be made in this election of the question of “experience.” Obama has yet to serve one full term in the Senate, while McCain is serving his fifth term in that body. Yet somehow in all those years in office, McCain hasn’t found the time to think through something as fundamental as what he believes about the separation of church and state — Item No. 1 in the Bill of Rights. So who’s really more “experienced”?

Compare and contrast