Religious group to air pro-Obama ad
Posted: Friday, August 15, 2008 3:08 PM by Mark MurrayAds
From NBC's Abby Livingston and Mark Murray Obama religious group announced today that will air a TV ad during the forum's broadcast that emphasizes Obama's faith, his family, and his marriage.
The group, called the Matthew 25 Network, has placed an emphasis on social justice and it’s founder, Mara Vanderslice, was John Kerry's religious outreach director in 2004.
On a conference call unveiling the ad, Rev. Kirbyjon Caldwell -- who appears in the ad and officiated Jenna Bush's wedding -- said: "I think it's important for us to just celebrate the fact that Sen. Obama is an outstanding, fabulous family man... I really wanna stand from the highest rooftop and say, 'He's a wonderful husband and a great dad.' His daughters adore him, and in times like these, when the institution of marriage is obviously under attack, for us to have a person running for the highest office in the land who has such a sterling reputation as a family man, I think this speaks volumes."
"You can determine a lot about a person's character by how he or she treats his family," Kirbyjon added. "And I'm glad that Sen. Obama is running for president. I think he would be a fabulous president. He has stood by families. I think he'll stand by families here in this country, and that's a great thing."
When a reporter pressed Caldwell whether he was alluding to McCain and his previous divorce, Caldwell replied, "Well, I don't know a lot about John McCain's family history. I do know that, however, as recently as last week, I think it was, the senator made a comment in South Dakota regarding his wife entering some Buffalo Chips contest, which is a topless deal -- if she were to enter she would probably win it. And my personal opinion and based on my understanding of the Christian faith, that's not, N-O-T, the type of expression that a presidential candidate or anyone, for that matter who espouses the Christian faith ought to make. so I ... don't know if that's perfect case in point, but it sure does help to juxtapose the DNA of Sen. Obama, if you would, versus the DNA of Sen. McCain."
Vanderslice then jumped in. "I would just add that ... our intent with this ad is to be a positive, a positive bio piece on Sen. Obama -- sort of recognizing that many are still trying to better understand his background." But, she continued, "Many in the Christian community have not forgotten, you know, what happened with Sen McCain, you know, marrying his second wife one month after leaving his second wife, you know, after a disfiguring car accident."
CBN's Brody weighs in on the ad, calling it "extremely effective because it highlights one of Obama's strengths and that is his family. The Republican Party wants to demonize the guy as a crazy liberal (a la John Kerry) but the problem is that unlike Kerry, Obama has the straight laced family narrative. You couldn't run a syrupy gushy pro-family ad like this with Kerry because he didn't have the cute little kids and he was on his second marriage."
"With Obama, he has the wholesome family image going for him. That is a big time strength and the folks over at Matthew 25 are astute enough to understand that."
