I watched a good chunk of the Rick Warren Forum this past Saturday night on CNN. I’d never heard of Warren before, though I was peripherally aware of his best-selling book “The Purpose Driven Life” and his Saddleback mega-church.

I thought Obama did fairly well. He wasn’t smooth and mellifluous, nor was he content with coming up with the right, trite answer. His answers to questions about abortion, marriage, and justice were the nuanced answers of a liberal-to-moderate Christian who has thought deeply about the complexities of leading a democracy. Considering that Obama, who was preaching to the unconverted, received several rounds of applause, Obama fans might even class his performance as a win.

McCain, on the other hand, was almost unwatchable. Yes, he’s a lovable old curmudgeon who has suffered for his country, and who should have been the Republican nominee back in 2000. And yes, his journey to nominee-hood this year was pretty much a cakewalk, but enough already.

Suffering may sometimes be noble, and McCain has had more than his share, but it doesn’t qualify anyone for political office. I soon found myself annoyed with his continuous references to his Hanoi Hilton experiences.

As for his age, McCain is still young enough to do almost anything, including jumping out of an airplane, but given the stress and rigours of the Oval Office job, and the real possibility of his popping at least one clog while the American people are “following” him, wouldn’t the most noble thing been for him to have bowed out of the race before he even put his name in the nomination hat?

In responding to Warren’s questions, McCain’s quick, pat answers may have sounded decisive to some, but they seemed shallow and superficial to me, answers crafted to preach to the cheap seats. The Saddleback crowd seemed to eat them up, applauding him more often and more enthusiastically than they did Obama, and not at all bored to hear the same set of questions posed a second time.

Some of McCain’s answers were so glib and fast on the draw that allegations have been made that he wasn’t in a cone of silence during Obama’s turn at the Warren confessional, and may have had an unfair advantage. Whether these allegations are true or not, it was clear that McCain was staying on the surface, pandering to the crowd, and telling them what he thought they wanted to hear.

Even if you believe life begins at conception, as McCain clearly stated he did, the political dimensions of abortion rights are complex. McCain supports the repeal of Roe v. Wade, though, unlike Obama, he does not seem to have given much thought to the underlying dynamics of unplanned pregnancies.

Perhaps the most telling moments, given that the forum took place in a church, were when the celebrity pastor asked each man to speak about his faith. Both began their responses with brief, stock summaries of the Christian faith. It was what happened next that was interesting.

Obama talked about the social gospel, indirectly referencing Matthew’s gospel and how poverty, racism, and sexism affect our society. McCain talked about his experience in the POW camp, one of several anecdotes he told that evening, a story that first appeared in his 1999 book, “Faith of My Fathers”.

On first hearing that story during the forum, I thought of the imprisonments of the Apostle Paul, and wondered if McCain was subtly attempting to create in his listeners a sense that he should be seen as a great, suffering leader. It was about that time that I began to tune him out. Not long after that the TV was flipped back to Olympic coverage.

Today, of course, the blogs are full of allegations that McCain lifted the entire “Cross in the Dirt” story from Solzhenitsyn’s “The Gulag Archipelago.” Perhaps. Perhaps not. There is plenty of dirt on the planet, plenty of prisons where people are unjustly held, and possibly more than one inmate or guard who would be moved to share faith and encouragement in this simple way.

It’s beside the point for me. What it boils down to is that McCain, who leans too heavily on a single story to prove his evangelical cred, was far better received than Obama, who reminded the Saddleback believers that faith without works is dead.

In the end, this forum was probably just another media event that will not sway a significant number of votes. Most evangelical voters are already committed, and Obama’s chance for victory does not lie within that community, but rather in getting out the vote of the young and others who have not normally voted. It’s too early to get a feel for who will win, though it looks like Obama has the edge, however slight.

If he were running for President of Canada he would win hands down. His glamour, vision, and intellect would lead us to the kinder, gentler promised land we haven’t seen since the days of Pierre Elliott Trudeau; the sort of promised land that not all Americans would think of as democracy.

Bill C-61 Blues. BC Civil Liberties Association and Vancouver Fair Copyright have written a short summary of the problems inherent with Bill C-61. The link to the pdf of this position paper is available on Michael Geist’s blog.

Iterminable. Our drive back and forth from Burnaby to the UBC hospital yesterday was at least a half-hour longer than it should have been, thanks to the Canada Line construction foul ups at 41st and Oak. It wasn’t even rush hour.

How long have we all been putting up with this cut and uncovered mess? And how much longer will it scar the city and string out our schedules? A whole lot longer, according to David Eby.

Vandulgence. Condohype on life in Vancouver.

Lemonade Stand Leadership. Gordo might be a two-faced autocrat, but at least he’s good at it? Carole James is a mistress of mushiness? Alex Tsakumis opines on the sad political facts.

A Pol We Can Believe In. Making It–New Yorker writer Ryan Lizza’s lengthy account of Barrack Obama’s Chicago years, pragmatic decisions, and poker games with lobbyists. via Keefer.

Oh, and Happy BC Day.

Mystified by how ’sub-prime’ debt engulfed Wall Street’s smartest and now threatens the wider global economy? This comic strip at the Telegraph explains how it all started.

Perhaps because of its unfunny, tasteless July 21 cover, New Yorker reporter, Ryan Lizza, was not given a seat on Obama’s press plane.

Not long before the cover hit the streets, New Yorker editor, David Remnick, went out for lunch.

When the National Post finally gets around to calling it the “stink of corruption” it’s safe to assume that pretty much everybody has noticed the scandals piling up in the B.C. Legislature.

“There’s no way the Liberals can win the election next May.” I said to Mr. V. last night, while discussing the latest fiasco, this one involving the Coleman brothers, Rich and Stan, 28,000 hectares of land, a $150 million windfall for Stan’s employer, Western Forest Products, and not even so much as a sham public consultation for Rich’s employer, the people of BC.

Mr. V. tilted his head and raised one eyebrow. I knew exactly what he was thinking.

“Do you think the NDP could manage to squeeze in a leadership convention? There’s always Adrian Dix…” I mused. “What is it about the NDP and the women they select as leaders? They’re so nice, but there’s something missing. Audrey McLaughlin, Alexa McDonough, Carole James, they all come from the same ladylike mold, and they don’t seem to have any passion.”

We agreed it was too bad Joy MacPhail had worn herself out being 95% of the Opposition back in the BC Liberals’ squeaky clean days. She wasn’t always likable, but she was one passionate firecracker, with the kind of energy needed to burn the government’s feet in an election campaign.

Then I remembered a conversation I had a few months ago at a dinner party. As the conversation rolled around to politics, it took both of us a few moments to recall James’ last name. Maybe it was the wine, or the wavering memories of middle age, but we both chalked it up to James’ extended failure to appear in the local media. She wasn’t top of mind, and seemingly forgettable.

And that’s a real problem for her and her party. Today, Alex Tsakumis’ analysis of women in politics doesn’t even mention James, though he has plenty to say about many others.

All the NDP would need to win the next provicial election is another seven seats. It’s doubtful they can manage it under their current, forgettable leader.

I don’t have any allusions about the NDP’s capacity to bring about lasting change. Sooner or later, they will form another provincial government, and sooner or later, the power will lead to corruption and scandals.

Hopefully, come May 12, 2009, they will manage to knock the Liberals hard enough to prevent them from becoming corrupted absolutely.

Michael Smyth’s column in the Province this morning:

Campbell’s image makeover pure hypocrisy
It’s all about winning the middle ground

Premier Gordon Campbell, like most politicians, wants to be all things to all people — and you can easily understand why.

In our polarized province, the right-wingers mostly vote Liberal and the left-wingers mostly vote NDP. Whichever party captures the so-called “moderate middle” of that spectrum captures the prize of power.

That’s why Campbell wised up after the Liberals’ surprisingly close 2001 election victory and did a clever makeover of his political image — a side-step shuffle from the right to the middle.

So he stopped fighting against “race-based” native treaties and became a champion of justice for first nations. He stopped calling the public-sector unions nasty names and instead gave them $1 billion in contract bonuses.

His “conversion” on the environment is simply his latest costume change as he continues to broaden his appeal to those coveted “mushy middle” voters.

But while Campbell’s “bold vision” on global warming has won him praise from elite environmental leaders and some eastern pundits, those of us following his policy shifts more closely recognize them for the political gimmicks they are.

How else to explain why Campbell wants to save the world from global warming on one hand, while courting the emission-spewing oil-and-gas sector on the other?

Campbell just whacked British Columbians with a gas tax, supposedly to force us to drive less and to stop heating our homes with natural gas. This will theoretically reduce B.C.’s emissions of carbon dioxide, the main greenhouse gas that causes global warming.

But in his last budget (the one printed on green paper in case anyone missed the point) Campbell delivered $327 million in subsidies to the B.C. oil-and-gas sector.

So let me get this straight: Campbell hammers you with gas taxes, because fossil fuels are destroying the planet. But he gives hundreds of millions of dollars to the companies that produce the fossil fuels in the first place — an industry that generates 21-per-cent of all the greenhouse gases in the province.

Hypocrisy is also on display when it comes to offshore oil exploration. There’s currently a federal moratorium against oil drilling off our coast. There’s a federal ban on oil tankers along part of the coast, too.

The Campbell government wants both bans lifted so we can drill for oil off the Queen Charlotte Islands and allow oil tankers into our coastal waters. He also wants to construct a pipeline across the province to deliver oil from the Alberta tar sands to our coastal ports.

What a “green visionary” he is!

Here’s the bottom line: The Campbell government is right to pursue offshore oil. It’s unfair that B.C. can’t develop these resources while Atlantic Canada can. They’re right to support the oil-and-gas sector, too. That industry pumps more than $1 billion into government coffers to pay for schools and hospitals.

But Campbell wants to have it both ways — stoking an oil-and-gas industry that drives our economy on one hand, while whacking the little guy with gas taxes because he wants to look like a “visionary” for those moderate voters on the other.

His carbon tax is pure politics. And pure hypocrisy.

E-mail: msmyth@direct.ca
Michael Smyth
The Province
Tuesday, July 15, 2008

© The Vancouver Province 2008

Not a Leader? B.C. Minster of Transportation Kevin Falcon, was not too happy on Canada Day. He was caught up in the traffic gridlock that resulted in Vancouver when police shut down the Second Narrows Bridge to assist a distraught woman who was contemplating suicide.

From Falcon’s perch, this sort of inconvenience is unacceptable, and we should be more like San Francisco. Maybe so. Maybe their politicians don’t throw hissy fits when they are inconvenienced. Maybe they think people are more important than roadways, too.

Speaking of Stuff that Sucks: Darren Barefoot succinctly analyzes the Canucks’ immediate future. From my perspective, it looks like it could be their long term future, too. Then again, it’s possible that Sundin could be the perfect Canuck catalyst, or that Roberto could be sold for a few hot prospects, or that Gillis knows what he is doing.

Buyers’ Market: Vancouver real estate prices have moderated slightly, and some price reductions are even being noted. Some say this is just a hiccup in an ever-upward price spiral. Others say that Canada has finally followed the US and European property markets down the hole. Consumer spending is also slowing down , but maybe not for Tom and Steve.

Family Planning–Extreme Edition: 70-year-old Omkari Panwar gave birth to twins recently. She wanted a male heir, so underwent IVF treatment and a C-section. I guess she can die happy now?

Bush Face: The Guardian reports on a confidential World Bank report that traces the steep rise in world food prices directly to the lust for corn and vegetable oils to manufacture biofuels. According to the Guardian “Senior development sources believe the report, completed in April, has not been published to avoid embarrassing President George Bush.”

For a piece in August’s Vanity Fair, Christopher Hitchens agreed try out the waterboarding experience. It wasn’t pretty. Vanity Fair has provided a short video of Hitchen’s experience.

See it here:
Hitchens Waterboarding Video

Starbucks has announced it will close 600 US stores and layoff more than 12,000 staff. It has also moderated its expansion plans, and will open fewer than 200 new stores in the US this year, down from the 250 originally planned.

Starbucks’ quarterly profit is down 28% from last year, and it will take almost $350 million in charges this year from its decision to close 600 stores.

All US retailers, says Starbucks, have been hit by an imploding housing market and rocketing fuel prices. The coffee retailer will focus on expanding internationally.

Hopefully Starbucks does not consider Vancouver an international expansion target. We already have more than enough green and white mermaids, thanks.

The Bank for International Settlements, which functions as a sort of central bankers’ bank says the world economy is in deep doo doo:

“The facts suggest that the magnitude of problems to be faced could be much greater than many now perceive… while difficult to predict, their interaction does appear to point to a deeper and more protracted global downturn than the consensus view seems to expect.”

Re-bundled sub-prime mortgages, collapse of the housing market, inflationary pressures fueled by rising petroleum costs, along with global food and fuel shortages are symptoms of an impending global meltdown, albeit a meltdown that might be averted by a bit of messing about with the bank rates. But if the credit card bubble bursts, says Danny Schechter, it really might be closing time.