Jeb Bush is supposedly going to be the adult in the room when he formally jumps into the 2016 presidential race. But his commencement address at Liberty University yesterday is a pretty loud indication of how far to the right the GOP has drifted. Bush declared in no uncertain terms that if he is elected president, his White House will be thoroughly girded by his Christian faith.
Jeb, an Episcopalian-turned-Catholic, told Liberty’s graduating class that “the simple and safe supply” to questions about whether his faith would influence his presidency is “No. Never. Of course not.” Any politician who answers that question, Jeb said, is someone “whose convictions are so private, so deeply personal, that he even refuses to impose them on himself.” An innocent-sounding answer–until you consider the audience.
For those who don’t know, Liberty is the largest Christianist university in the world, founded by none other than Jerry Falwell; his son, Jerry, Jr. is now the university’s president. It has lightened up a little bit–for instance, a few members of my church in Charlotte graduated from there. Some of them have tattoos and piercings–which would have been unthinkable based on my knowledge of prevailing attitudes during Jerry, Sr.’s tenure. Still, we’ve gotten some pretty loud reminders lately that Falwell’s spirit is still very much alive. Ted Cruz, for instance, kicked off his campaign with a visit to Liberty’s mandatory student convocation, and treated the audience to a hefty dose of red meat. And just a week later, Baptist pastor Robert Jeffress thundered that 9-11 was punishment for legalized abortion.
Granted, there are a lot of reasons to be cynical about anything coming from Jeb’s mouth. After all, his elder brother held himself out to be the most devoutly Christian president this country has ever had–and turned out to be a war criminal. But considering recent events, it’s hard not to conclude that Bush was speaking in code–one that most of the audience readily understood. Small wonder that the New Civil Rights Movement’s David Badash couldn’t help but notice the contrast with John F. Kennedy’s now-famous speech in which he declared he would be the president for all people, not just Catholics.
It says a lot that Jeb chose to speak at a university which has long preached that the only acceptable form of Christianity is an in-your-face variety, and anything less is considered to be “lukewarm.” That attitude seems to be lightening up some, but judging by this speech from Jeb and other recent speeches, it’s still very much there.
