bedfellows
New York Times - November 14, 2006
Purpose-Driven Candidate? By ANNE E. KORNBLUT
Senator Barack Obama, Democrat of Illinois, has a date next month
with Rick Warren, the megachurch pastor and best-selling author of
“The Purpose Driven Life,” a move that could give Mr. Obama, who is
black, exposure to millions of white churchgoers as he decides
whether to run for president in 2008.
Mr. Obama will appear, alongside Bono and Senator Sam Brownback,
Republican of Kansas, at World AIDS Day at Mr. Warren’s huge
Saddleback Church in Lake Forest, Calif., on Dec. 1.
Is it a step toward active support for Mr. Obama? Although Mr. Warren
is a theological conservative whose politics would seem closer to
those of Mr. Brownback, he has championed causes like the environment
and fighting the genocide in Darfur.
David Axelrod, an adviser to Mr. Obama, would say only that the
senator and Mr. Warren have a continuing “dialogue.”