Saddleback Forum

I just watched the 'Saddleback Civil Forum' which I had taped from a couple days ago. Pastor Rick Warren of Purpose Driven Life fame interviewed presidential candidates Barack Obama & John McCain on the issues of leadership, worldview, domestic policy & foreign relations. I thought Warren did a great (and compact) job of bringing lots of great questions to the table.

So what did I think? Well, there are a couple of different ways to answer that question. Who's style do I prefer? Probably Obama's. His answers were conversational and nuanced. But I was with McCain when it came to substance more often than not. Here's how I evaluated the various categories of answers:

On Leadership
Obama had the 1st hour with Pastor Rick and gained points, in my evaluation, for his transparency about his former selfishness and emphasis on 'work' in reforming welfare. But he lost points by mentioning Ted Kennedy as one of the wisest people in his life. McCain mentioned the failure of his previous marriage as his greatest moral failure. He had a lot more to say than Obama on various issues, which showed his advantage in the area of experience. Obama has the ability to speak well without saying very much while McCain says quite a bit in a way that isn't as pleasing to the ear. McCain seemed to pick up some passion as his hour got going. Hands down, McCain won this section for me.

On Worldview
Both gave answers to the 'Christian' question that seemed genuine. Obama had misinformation regarding abortion (stating that they haven't declined when, in fact, they have). McCain was clear and, in my opinion, correct in stating that life begins at conception. Surprisingly, I actually preferred Obama's answer to the question 'does evil exist' seeing as how they both agreed that it does, but McCain comes across as if he can defeat it by himself in the flesh (tongue and cheek). But, overall, I still have to give the slight edge to McCain here on the strength of the abortion answer.

On Domestic Policy
Obama lost big points here in my book. He said he wouldn't have nominated the 3 best SC judges. His reasoning against C. Thomas was lack of experience, which hardly seems fair considering Obama may be the least experienced presidential candidate in US history. McCain was very strong on education and was on the verge of an excellent example on the 'how do you define rich?' question before answering too quickly to flesh it out. He was also very good on faith-based organizations. Size-able victory for McCain here.

On US Responsibility to World
On the issue of war, both candidates tried to come back to the middle a bit since they have extreme views on the issue. McCain, as expected, sounded much more informed on world situations. But most of the answers in this category were fairly bland. Perhaps a slight edge to Obama here for his insistence that we examine our own eye first.

Closing Statements
Obama had time for 1 more question than McCain, but overall their concluding thoughts were not surprising. Pretty even here. McCain was the overall winner in my opinion. Obama had nuanced answers, just the way I like them. But there's something to be said for just coming out and saying what you believe AND, of course, believing the right things. Even still, my respect level for both went up. But I'm still not voting for either of them!