And Much Hilarity Ensued

This campaign may turn out to be much, much funnier than I had anticipated:

Reaching out to evangelical voters, Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama is announcing plans that would expand President Bush's program steering federal social service dollars to religious groups and - in a move sure to cause controversy - support their ability to hire and fire based on faith. [See additional comment in brackets immediately below.]

Obama was unveiling his approach to getting religious charities more involved in government anti-poverty programs during a tour and remarks Tuesday at Eastside Community Ministry in Zanesville, Ohio.

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But Obama's support for letting religious charities that receive federal funding consider religion in employment decisions was likely to invite a storm of protest from those who view such faith requirements as discrimination. [Hahaha! Ya think?] [This point regarding employment decisions appears to be inaccurate -- which doesn't alter the fact that this kind of program is terrible for numerous reasons, just as it does not alter any of my other points below.]

David Kuo, a conservative Christian who was deputy director of Bush's Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives until 2003 and later became a critic of Bush's commitment to the cause, said Obama's position has the potential to be a major "Sister Souljah moment" for his campaign.

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Obama proposes to elevate the program to a "moral center" of his administration, by renaming it the Office of Community and Faith-Based Partnerships, and changing training from occasional huge conferences to empowering larger religious charities to mentor smaller ones in their communities.

A "moral center" of his administration.

Well, fuck me. Gosh, I'm sorry. Did that slip out?

More to the point: Obama will obviously screw every single person and constituency that has ever supported him, that supports him now or that will ever support him -- and he will do so in an especially blatant, in-your-face manner -- if he believes it will be to his political advantage. And he knows they'll continue to support him anyway: "So what're you gonna do, vote Republican? Come on! Come on, you're not gonna vote Republican!" Still worse: I have no doubt at all that he sincerely believes all the religious crap he's peddling. If that doesn't worry you, especially after the Bush years of God and Glory America, I doubt that anything will make you question The Faith According to Barack.

Without forgetting my much more serious concerns, I think there might be a lot of entertainment to be found in this campaign. Who's Obama going to screw next, and just how badly will he humiliate them? Maybe a new slogan, to replace the already exhausted hopey, changey thing: "Barack will fuck you over -- and he'll make you LOVE it!"

It definitely has possibilities.

Good stuff! Thanks, you jerk.