Obama WILL Tap New Generation Through Faith-Based and Community Partnerships

Following the AP report this morning that Obama seeks to expand Bush's failed Faith-Based initiative, a flurry of responses from the campaign have made one thing clear: Obama has a clear vision for our generation.

Per my many conversations of late (thank you P.G, M.H, B.E, A.M, and M.A) I have a few initial thoughts.

Obama's plan is actually to completely overhaul and replace Bush's politically mired initiative with a new plan to galvanize religious and community charities to be more involved in government poverty-reduction and social justice programs -- the major point being, we need your help. The campaign estimates the '$500-million-a-year program would also create 1 million new slots for summer jobs and education programs'.

Obama argues:

I'm not saying that faith-based groups are an alternative to government or secular nonprofits, and I'm not saying that they're somhow better at lifting people up...What I'm saying is that we all have to work together -- Christian and Jew, Hindu and Muslim, believer and non-believer alike -- to meet the challenges of the 21st century.

So what about motivations, reality, and vision.

Politically, it's no secret that in the past few months we've witnessed a surge of young and older evangelical voters shifting towards Obama: in addition to single issue "pro-life" voters, there is a strong desire to eradicate the world and local community of injustice, AIDS, malaria, famine, poverty, and violent conflict.

An outward position on the role of faith in solving these problems solidifies Obama's position among these voters. And while critics from the left and right are knee-jerking this as a move towards the "mythical" center, note just how drastically different Obama's approach is than Bush's.

The Post sums:

Obama aides said the current program requires faith-based organizations interested in assistance to attend conferences in Washington to learn how to apply, which has reduced participation to a few savvy groups. Instead, he would set up “community partners” to “train the trainers” to apply in a more streamlined fashion.

But Obama aides said an Obama administration would get tougher on groups that discriminate in hiring practices and assistance. The groups would have to abide by federal hiring laws which reject discrimination based on race, sex, religion and sexual orientation. And the groups could use federal funds only to assist anyone in need, not anyone from a certain background or religion. Nor could federal funds be used to prosletyze or spread religious beliefs.

Back when Bush first proposed faith-based initiatives, my skepticism revolved around a) bank-rolling evangelism, b) an empty promise to help the poor and needy, and c) flawed leadership. As I grappled with today's news from Obama, I thought about these three challenges. As the Post reported, the checks-and-balances that Obama wants to put into his initiative give me initial peace of mind that only those groups with a real commitment to implementing social programs will in the end receive grants on a regular basis.

Furthermore, the community partnership approach at least now indicates that his program would be far less dependent on political appointees and motivations -- this in comparison to Bush's top-down, compartmentalized approach that favored a few bigger, wealthier religious groups and left no decision to the communities that it purported to help.

Lastly, Obama's initiative reflects his life experience as an organizer. This is bigger than faith, it is about our generation having the resources and support to implement vast improvements in our community.

See while Obama's initiative will surely gain him votes, it will not tie his hands into politically supporting religious groups. His ideas and framing of the issue so vastly differ from Bush that we can already sense his leadership style. In fact, I couldn't find anywhere in Obama's words this morning a promise that evangelical fat-cats will have a White House willing to hand out blank checks to proselytize.

I found instead the early signs of a future administration that will drastically alter the perception of how our country will serve those in need. Obama's vision may very well challenge our generation to move beyond our cynicism toward a shared responsibility.