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August 16th, 2008 at 10:09 pm

Video & Photos: Barack Obama John McCain Rick Warren Saddleback Civil Forum 8-16-08

in: Politics

Rev Rick Warren with John McCain and Barack Obama at the Saddlebank Civil Forum on the Presidency, August 16, 2008

Presidential candidates, Senator Barack Obama and Senator John McCain took part in the The Saddleback Civil Forum on the Presidency on August 16, 2008, moderated by Rev. Rick Warren, pastor of Saddleback Church in Lake Forest, California, and author of the best-seller The Purpose-Driven Life.

Barack Obama said Saturday his greatest moral failure was selfishness. John McCain said his was the failure of his first marriage.

“I had a difficult youth — I experimented with drugs and drank. I trace this to a certain selfishness on my point. I couldn’t focus on other people,” Obama told Rev. Rick Warren. “It’s not about me.”

The two presumptive presidential nominees are taking questions from Warren at the Saddleback Civil Forum on the Presidency at Warren’s church in southern California, home to nearly 20,000 members.

Rev Rick Warren with Barack Obama at the Saddlebank Civil Forum on the Presidency, August 16, 2008

McCain said that America’s greatest moral failure is that Americans have not devoted “ourselves to causes greater than our self-interest.”

“I think after 9/11, my friends, we should have told Americans to join the Peace Corps, expand the military, serve a cause greater than your self-interest,” he said.

Obama said that the country’s greatest moral failure was not doing enough for its underprivileged.

“We still don’t abide by that basic precept of Matthew — whatever you do to the least of my brothers, you do to me,” Obama said.

Rev Rick Warren with John McCain and Barack Obama at the Saddlebank Civil Forum on the Presidency, August 16, 2008

When asked what faith in Jesus means to him, McCain replied: “Means I’m saved and forgiven. Our faith encompasses not just America, but the world.”

McCain got teary-eyed while discussing an experience with a guard during his experience as a prisoner of war in Vietnam. The guard, McCain said, drew a cross in the sand while he was praying. “For a minute there we were just two Christians worshipping together.”

Obama was also asked who on the U.S. Supreme Court he would have never nominated. His reply: Clarence Thomas.

Rev Rick Warren with Barack Obama at the Saddlebank Civil Forum on the Presidency, August 16, 2008

“I don’t think he was a strong enough jurist or a legal thinker at the time for that. I profoundly disagree with his interpretation [of the Constitution],” he said.

When asked the same question, McCain said he would have never nominated Justices Ginsberg, Breyer, Suter and Stevens.

“This nomination should be based on the critera on a proven record of strictly adhering to the Constitution and not legislating from the bench,” McCain added.

The Arizona senator said he was “proud” of President Bush for nominating conservative justices Alito and Roberts to the court.

Source: McCain and Obama cite moral failures

Photo credit: Mario Anzuoni/Reuters
See also:

Rev Rick Warren with John McCain and Barack Obama at the Saddlebank Civil Forum on the Presidency, August 16, 2008

Rev Rick Warren with John McCain and Barack Obama at the Saddlebank Civil Forum on the Presidency, August 16, 2008

John McCain and Barack Obama at Rev Rick Warren's Saddlebank Civil Forum on the Presidency, August 16, 2008









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Video & Photos: Barack Obama John McCain Rick Warren Saddleback Civil Forum 8-16-08



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