Current

Commentary. Reflection. Judgment.

Barack Obama.

Obama the persuader

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Ezra Klein says that Obama “puts everything into this project of persuasion, of trying to convince America to do something it has never done before. And he so profoundly succeeds and fails.” Listen here. Here is a taste of the […]

“A History of Evangelicals and Politics” podcast is here!

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Our patrons-only podcast dropped last night. Subscribers to Current at the Longshore level and above receive this brand new narrative history podcast. In order to encourage folks to sign-up, we have decided to drop the opening episode–Episode 0: Introduction–below. If […]

Obama 2.0?

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As my piece today at Current suggests, I see a lot of continuity between the Obama and Biden presidencies. Obama inherited the 2008 recession. Biden inherited COVID-19, an economic recession, racial tensions, and the Trump-induced threats to American democracy. Both […]

When Barack Obama came to Messiah College

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Obama and his Democratic primary challenger Hillary Clinton came to Messiah College (now Messiah University) in 2008 for The Compassion Forum, an event sponsored by CNN, Faith in Public Life, and Messiah. The forum took place about a week before […]

A Black Evangelical family in Trumpland

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Isaac Bailey is the James K. Batten Professor of Public Policy at Davidson College. In a recent piece at Politico, he describes what his son experienced at Erskine College, a Reformed Christian college in Due West, South Carolina. Here is […]

Obama and Springsteen do a podcast

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It is called “Renegades: Born in the USA” and will eight episodes long. I imagine this was recorded before the Springsteen DWI case. I guess Spotify decided to release it anyway. Listen to the first two episodes at Spotify. Episode […]

Quote of the Day

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We evangelicals aren’t inherently stupid, although we do get that way at election time. Push the scare button, give us a choice, and we’ll choose Barabbas, the people’s criminal, 9 out of 10. Nonetheless, even our political gullibility has its […]

A tale of two prayer breakfast speeches

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On February 3, 2021, the day before the National Prayer Breakfast, Americans United for the Separation of Church and State called for Joe Biden to endorse the separation of church at the breakfast. Here is a taste of the release: […]

Barack Obama talks about writing his memoir

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I am reading Obama’s memoir A Promised Land with my daughter. Actually, Caroline is listening to the audio version and I am reading the text. She is about a chapter ahead of me. This morning we exchanged notes at lunch. […]

Barack Obama and Ibram X. Kendi on American politics

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Alan Jacobs has two quotes on his blog Snakes and Ladders: Obama: The point I’ve always made to Ta-Nehisi, the point I sometimes make to Michelle, the point I sometimes make to my own kids — the question is, for […]

Obama: *The Atlantic* interview

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Jeffrey Goldberg, the editor of The Atlantic, recently interviewed Barack Obama as part of the former president’s book tour for A Promised Land. Here are a few of Goldberg’s questions that caught my attention: Goldberg asks Obama about writing: On […]