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Steven Waldman

Compared to the 2004 Democratic Convention, the 2008 gathering is a veritable religious revival meeting. At the last convention, people of faith were treated as a worthwhile little interest group, roughly on the same level as mohair farmers. What a difference four years make. By my count, there are at least nine different faith-related events.…

I’ve spent the last few days scrutinizing the political buttons being sold on the streets of Denver and have noticed something very odd: there are almost no anti-McCain buttons. It’s almost all pro-Obama and pro-Clinton buttons. Today, I finally found one with a picture of McCain and the word, “NOPE.” Not exactly scathing. The 2004…

George W. Bush was always brilliant at dropping in religious references in ways that seemed genuine, appropriate and not forced. Joe Biden had a different, but equally effective style. This was not language of poetic evangelicalism, but colloquial faith talk of working class Catholics: “How in God’s name” “God sends no cross that you cannot…

To me, whether this convention ends up helping Obama will depend on whether people watch cable news or broadcast news. Why? Because if you watch the full convention straight through, you think, “wow, most of these Democrats are boring.” But if you watch the broadcast channels, which only show the top speakers — Michelle Obama,…

Reader Fred Tennedy writes: “how can you not realize that the Democratic plank is more pro-abortion than it has been? Any “pro-lifers” who think they are getting even a crumb are truly deceived!” I think that for pro-lifers the platform was one step forward, one step back. The step forward was language promoting policies that…

Another image you won’t see at the Republican convention. This sign, for a booth set up by the condom company, Trojan, was there Monday morning and gone by Monday afternoon so I suspect it was, er, unofficial. I find it much more instructive to watch the speeches with the real crowd rather than in the…

This is how the Hillary speech looked from where I was standing. You definitely had a better view of her watching on TV than I did. Still, being in the hall is thrilling. Since the party has been operating for a couple of months as if Obama is the nominee, we forget that about half…

One of the hot topics at several convention events was whether the Democratic Party could be for abortion rights and simultaneously take the lead in reducing the number of abortions. It sounds like a contradiction, because the abortion debate has so far focused on whether there ought to be legal restrictions. Smack into the middle…

At a panel here at the Democratic Convention about the Jewish vote, some local Florida politicians tried to convey to their fellow Democrats just how much hostility toward Obama there is among the Jews in the “condo communities.” Apparently “a mob mentality has taken hold,” with anti-Obama rumors feeding a tremendous anger. The full account…

The Faith & Politics Institute held a lunch for elected officials the entire purpose of which was having them talk about the importance of faith in their lives. Rep. John Lewis, the civil rights hero and member of Congress, declared that “my involvement in civil rights was an extenion of my faith.” It was his…
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