WWJD: The President at the National Prayer Breakfast

[YankeeFan]

Apparently, the President's plan is divinely inspired. It's nice to be on God's side in a political dispute.

“When I talk about our financial institutions playing by the same rules as folks on Main Street; when I talk about making sure insurance companies aren't discriminated against those who are already sick; or making sure that unscrupulous lenders aren't taking advantage of the most vulnerable among us, I do so because I genuinely believe it will make the economy stronger for everybody but I also do it because I know that far too many neighbors in our country have been hurt and treated unfairly over the last few years. And I believe in God's command to love thy neighbor as thyself.” Obama said.

http://www.nationaljournal.com/whitehouse/quick-take-obama-defends-policies-at-prayer-breakfast-20120202

 

[cranberry]

Jesus loved the middle class.

 

[YankeeFan]

Jesus loved the middle class.

Eh, Jesus had to focus on the poor. FDR hadn't invented the safety net yet.

Mitt can focus on the middle class.

 

[93Devil]

Yeah, the GOP never played the Bible card.

 

[black dude with pompano]

And this is just two verses away from the passage about loving thy neighbor as thyself...

“‘If a man sleeps with a female slave who is promised to another man but who has not been ransomed or given her freedom, there must be due punishment. Yet they are not to be put to death, because she had not been freed." Leviticus 19:20, NIV

(On a positive note, it goes on to say that the man can sacrifice a ram to be absolved).


The lefty Christians are just as loony as the righty ones. They both act like an ancient work of fiction has something meaningful to say about today's world. It's a shame that the president has to give lip service to the NPB and can't ignore it like it deserves to be.

 

[Brian]

Quoting the Bible and then politicizing those words is as American as apple pie. I'd be disappointed if both sides didn't claim God was on their side.

Only Lincoln had the balls to admit he had no idea if he was on God's side.

And that dude got a bullet in his head.

 

[YankeeFan]

Jesus supports higher taxes:

"And I think to myself, if I’m willing to give something up as somebody who’s been extraordinarily blessed, and give up some of the tax breaks that I enjoy, I actually think that’s going to make economic sense. But for me as a Christian, it also coincides with Jesus’s teaching that 'for unto whom much is given, much shall be required,'" Obama said, noting Jewish and Islamic teachings say much the same thing.

And, there is Biblical backing for our foreign aid policy:

"And when I decide to stand up for foreign aid, or prevent atrocities in places like Uganda, or take on issues like human trafficking, it’s not just about strengthening alliances, or promoting democratic values, or projecting American leadership around the world, although it does all those things and it will make us safer and more secure. It’s also about the biblical call to care for the least of these — for the poor; for those at the margins of our society.

To answer the responsibility we’re given in Proverbs to 'Speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves, for the rights of all who are destitute.'"

http://www.buzzfeed.com/zekejmiller/obama-i-pushed-dodd-frank-and-health-care-reform

 

[black dude with pompano]

Jesus, or the Bible, supports whatever you want it to support.

 

[Brian]

Jesus was for 100 percent taxation. Seriously.

 

[LongTimeListener]

YF -- you can't honestly believe Obama is unique, or even noteworthy at all, in citing the Bible. He was at the National Prayer Breakfast, was he supposed to go there and be anti-prayer? Or was he supposed to not go and be seen as godless or Mooslim?

 

[YankeeFan]

YF -- you can't honestly believe Obama is unique, or even noteworthy at all, in citing the Bible. He was at the National Prayer Breakfast, was he supposed to go there and be anti-prayer? Or was he supposed to not go and be seen as godless or Mooslim?

I'd have to go back and look at transcripts, but I'm not sure President Bush ever gave such an overtly political speech at the National Prayer Breakfast.

I also think it's funny, because it's the sort of thing that would set the secular left on fire if it was done by a Republican President.

 

[Baron Scicluna]

There shouldn't be a National Prayer Breakfast sponsored by our government. Period.

They want to pray at breakfast, do it in their own home, or have their church cook up some eggs and pray there.

 

[YankeeFan]

There shouldn't be a National Prayer Breakfast sponsored by our government. Period.

They want to pray at breakfast, do it in their own home, or have their church cook up some eggs and pray there.

It's not sponsored by our government.

 

[Alma]

Jesus supports higher taxes:

"And I think to myself, if I’m willing to give something up as somebody who’s been extraordinarily blessed, and give up some of the tax breaks that I enjoy, I actually think that’s going to make economic sense. But for me as a Christian, it also coincides with Jesus’s teaching that 'for unto whom much is given, much shall be required,'" Obama said, noting Jewish and Islamic teachings say much the same thing.

And, there is Biblical backing for our foreign aid policy:

"And when I decide to stand up for foreign aid, or prevent atrocities in places like Uganda, or take on issues like human trafficking, it’s not just about strengthening alliances, or promoting democratic values, or projecting American leadership around the world, although it does all those things and it will make us safer and more secure. It’s also about the biblical call to care for the least of these — for the poor; for those at the margins of our society.

To answer the responsibility we’re given in Proverbs to 'Speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves, for the rights of all who are destitute.'"

http://www.buzzfeed.com/zekejmiller/obama-i-pushed-dodd-frank-and-health-care-reform

He's right on both counts.

 

[cranberry]

There shouldn't be a National Prayer Breakfast sponsored by our government. Period.

They want to pray at breakfast, do it in their own home, or have their church cook up some eggs and pray there.

It's not sponsored by our government.

Yeah, I think it's one of those difficult-to-avoid banquets where you end up into buying a table to two and then can't find enough people to fill the seats.

 

[Inky_Wretch]

At least he attended, that'll prevent the GOP Derp Squad of raising a stink about him being a MOOOOOOSLIM. For about five seconds, maybe.

 

[LongTimeListener]

I just hope he didn't make any jokes as bad as the "spilled milk" one in the SOTU. More than a week later, that one still makes me cringe.

 

[daemon]

YF - Maybe conservatives should follow Obama's lead and explain how their political beliefs jibe with their theology. Oh, right, that's what issues like THE GAYS are for. Shiny objects, extracted from a few isolated verses, designed to distract attention from the fact that, in the realm of social radicals, the Jesus portrayed in the Bible would have made Saul Alinsky look like Bob ****ing Dole. What was Jesus if not a "bleeding heart?" I know, I know - it's much more comfortable not to challenge your beliefs. Ignorance is bliss and all.

 

[LongTimeListener]

Jesus would've taxed everyone one drachma. He then would've miracled that one drachma into a thousand drachmas, and alotted 300 of said drachmas from each person to pay down the Roman debt. Problem solved!

Ragu would be all up in Jesus' grill about inflation.

 

[Ben_Hecht]

Quoting the Bible and then politicizing those words is as American as apple pie. I'd be disappointed if both sides didn't claim God was on their side.

Only Lincoln had the balls to admit he had no idea if he was on God's side.

And that dude got a bullet in his head.

And knew he was going to get it. His fatalism was legendary.