Dems values debate farcical

Sunday night's big clash on spiritual values between Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama was either tragic, or a complete farce. It would be hard for any reasonably religious person to put a good face on it.

Despite the usual lip service to Christianity and moral values, neither Clinton nor Obama have what any fundamental or evangelical Christian would consider acceptable views. Both are pro-abortion, pro-gay marriage, and major proponents of the social gospel, as opposed to the Bible itself. The debate featured them mealy-mouthing around the issues, to avoid having to defend their indefensible positions.

The only thing worse than the duo's answers, were the questions from the panel. The questioners were even more at sea in the discussion of moral values, as well as their willingness to let Hillary and Obama off the hook with non-answers. The discussion begged for one or two questioners of great moral or theological understanding, who could both bring clarity to the questions, and force clarity from Hillary and Obama.

After sitting through this thoroughly muddy and obtuse discussion, it's not hard to see why Democrats have such a hard time appealing to values voters. They are out of step with values voters to begin with, and then come across as almost laughably inept in trying to disguise the fact.

The few Democrats with solid values like Pennsylvania Sen. Robert Casey, who is anti-abortion, and Connecticut Sen. Joe Lieberman, who is socially conservative, are drummed out of the party or marginalized to the fringes of the debate.

Save for Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, the Republican candidates were hardly much better, which explains why much of the GOP sat on their hands through the primaries, and why there is so little enthusiasm for presumptive nominee John McCain. His record on social issues is very muddy and his ability to discuss them is marginal. This lukewarm GOP response is a major problem for McCain, and why the nasty shootout between Hillary and Obama that will split the Democratic Party may still leave them with the ability to win in November.

Despite the obvious attempts Sunday night by the mass media and the Democrats to minimize and temporize social issues, they are very real and very important to one-third to as much as one-half of the electorate. It would behoove the candidates to get a handle on it.