Life of the Party

So you're saying that Democrats should actually do the sorts of things Bush said that he would do when he ran in 2000?

Yeah. You've got to reframe policy issues in the values context. Don't start with policies, start with values. Don't start with programs, start with principles. Let policies flow from values. And those of you who are people of faith, let your faith shine through. Don't be ashamed of talking about your faith. A lot of Democrats tell me they feel apologetic, marginalized in their own party, for being people of faith, and that's got to change.

Like I said to Howard Dean, you don't have to be a person of faith, but if you're not a person of faith, don't act like you're one. The worst thing you can do is to sound inauthentic. Putting the Book of Job in the New Testament wasn't a good move on his part. Just respect people of faith. Let people of faith in the Democratic Party -- Barack Obama, Rosa DeLauro, Blanche Lincoln, Mark Pryor -- let them talk.

But is the public ready to listen to Democrats talking about their faith?

You look at these town meetings we've been having [about the book], you look at the media coverage, and what's clear is that the monologue of the religious right is finally over and a new dialogue has begun. Their monologue has controlled the conversation, and a dialogue is all you need to get people thinking, "Well, there's this point of view [from the religious right], but here are some Christians talking about the environment."

Did you see the New York Times story a couple of weeks back about the National Association of Evangelicals saying that global warming is a religious issue? That was huge. It changed the politics of global warming in Washington overnight. Until then, the global-warming constituency wasn't a part of the Bush base, so what did they care? But all of a sudden, there are evangelical leaders saying, "You know, the environment is God's creation, and being good stewards is part of our responsibility." And I'm telling you, the same day, they got calls from the White House saying, "What don't you like about our policies?"

That's a change within the evangelical right. For Democrats, it seems so much harder. As Democrats begin wrapping their policies in the words of faith and religion, it often sounds like they're saying, "Hey, look at us, we're Christians, too!" Dean sounds like he has a list of Bible quotations next to him when he's writing his speeches.

And that's the wrong way to do it. It can't be just language, it's got to be content. It has to be authentic. It has to be more than words. And do it the way King did it, with your Bible in one hand and your Constitution in the other hand, in a way that's open and inclusive and welcoming.

The dialogue has begun, and Democrats have to reassess. Some of it will just be crude and shallow demographics -- "Oh, I guess we lost that one; let's throw in a few Bible verses and few hymns and just sing the same song." That won't work.

But in "God's Politics" you suggest that talking the talk will help at least a little. You say there are two ways the Democrats can make inroads. They can start to reassess some of their policies in order to find common ground with more people of faith. Failing that, they can begin to talk about their existing policies in better ways.

You've got to have a conversation. I'm just saying that you have to be authentic. Some of the Democrats I talk with about their faith and what it means for politics [are] not just saying, "Give me some lines." They're wrestling with it, they're soul searching, they're trying to figure out how to talk about it. And I encourage them to just be themselves. Be people of faith -- authentically.

Kerry had a hard time doing that. Two days before the election, I watched him campaign at an African-American church in Ohio. I don't think I've ever seen a man look less comfortable --

I know, I know. And that just hurts. That's the worst thing. That's worse than saying nothing.

But how much of what the Democrats need to do is just a matter of finding a way to talk about this stuff better, explaining that moral values drive their concerns for poverty or healthcare or whatever?

A lot of it. Kerry has a strong environmental record, but we heard almost nothing about that during the campaign -- or about how his faith [influenced his politics]. He was just defending himself on abortion and the Eucharist. You know, "I was an altar boy!" But Hitler was an altar boy.

[The Democrats needed a candidate] who simply said, "These are issues of inclusion, fairness, economic equity, justice -- 9 million families in America are working hard full time, and they're not making it. They're playing by the rules and not making it, and that's wrong. If you work hard in America full time, you shouldn't be poor."

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