President Obama's New High-Tech Device
JIM ACOSTA, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): The Obama presidency wasn't the only first this inauguration week. Sharon Watkins became the first woman to lead the national prayer service, a ritual that dates back to George Washington .</s>REV. SHARON WATKINS, PRESIDENT, DISCIPLES OF CHRIST: It's good that we pause to take a deep spiritual breath.</s>ACOSTA: At the inauguration's kickoff at the Lincoln Memorial it was the first openly gay Episcopal bishop, Gene Robinson, delivering the invocation.</s>RT. REV. GENE ROBINSON, EPISCOPAL BISHOP OF NEW HAMPSHIRE: And the understanding that our new president is a human being, not a messiah.</s>ACOSTA: Choices that illustrate Mr. Obama's desire for inclusiveness.</s>JIM WALLIS, PRESIDENT, SOJOUNERS: I've known Barack Obama for about 10 years and he's always been a good listener. He wants to know what you think. And he wants strong opinions around him, and then he listens and he then decides what he thinks.</s>ACOSTA: That could explain why controversial evangelical Pastor Rick Warren was asked by the president to give the invocation at the swearing in.</s>PASTOR RICK WARREN, SADDLEBACK CHURCH: Help us, oh, God, to remember that we are Americans.</s>ACOSTA: Warren was both praised for his inclusive tone and criticized by some for invoking the name of Jesus.</s>WARREN: I humbly ask this in the name of the one who changed my life, Jeshuah, Issa, Jesus, Jesus.</s>ACOSTA: Religious scholars are parsing everything about the president's handling of faith this week. He was quoting from the Bible --</s>OBAMA: : The time has come to set aside childish things.</s>ACOSTA: To the support he picked up from Kirby John Caldwell, the Texas pastor who presided over the wedding of former first daughter Jenna Bush, author of "God In The White House," Randall Balmer says it all adds up to a new kind of presidential faith.</s>RANDALL BALMER, AUTHOR, "GOD IN THE WHITE HOUSE": There is a new way of doing business in Washington. Obama clearly means to send a signal that he's willing to reach out to a wide array of individuals.</s>ACOSTA (On camera): Even though Democrats criticized President Bush's office of faith-based initiatives, President Obama has plans to overhaul and expand the program. During the campaign, then-Candidate Obama insisted he would keep this office and still maintain a separation between church and state, a principle value here in this country. Jim Acosta, CNN, Washington.</s>PHILLIPS: All right. So, let's dig a little deeper here. John F. Kennedy, the first Catholic president, asked voters to disregard a candidate's religion. On the other hand, George W. Bush said, I believe that God wants me to be president. "God In the White House", how is President Obama's faith going to guide this country? Randall Balmer wrote the book, so let's ask him. He's joining me live now from New Haven, Connecticut. Great to see you, Randall.</s>BALMER: Thanks, Kyra.</s>PHILLIPS: So, the picture I cannot get out of my head is the one taken for "Time" magazine, of him standing there, just before he's going to walk out onto the capitol steps, and take the oath of office. And I'm just curious, when you look at this picture, if you could hear his prayer, what would you want to hear from him at that moment?</s>BALMER: He's probably thinking, God help me!</s>PHILLIPS: Yes, really.</s>BALMER: Somebody help me.</s>PHILLIPS: God fill my heart and soul.</s>BALMER: Right.</s>PHILLIPS: What do you think was going through his mind? From what you've read about him, from what you know of past presidents and the way they look at faith? What does that moment usually mean?</s>BALMER: Well, I think there's good evidence to believe that Barack Obama is somebody for whom his faith is important to him. One of the interesting facets of the 2004 campaign was that for the first time, in recent memory, we had the Democratic candidate, who was very comfortable, even fluent talking about his faith, and the way the faith guides his policies. And the Republican candidate was clearly uncomfortable. In fact, there was some who question whether he was a Baptist or Episcopalian.</s>PHILLIPS: Wow. All right, I want to get more into Obama, and faith, and how that's going to play out in the next administration. But I want to ask you just for a second, looking back at President Bush, just for a minute, David Kuo, who is second in command of President Bush's faith-based initiative, back in 2001 to 2003, here's a quote from his book, "Tempting Faith: An Inside Story of Political Seduction". He said, "National Christian leaders would receive hugs and smiles in person and then were dismissed behind their backs and described as ridiculous, out of control, and just plain goofy." Did Bush and the Republican Party use religion in the White House to manipulate voters, to, I don't know, come across as moral superiority? Was it fake?</s>BALMER: Well, obviously David has the inside track. I wouldn't be prepared to contradict that. But I think there probably is some evidence that there's a lot of rhetoric in the campaign trail, and by the way, it's not just republican or even George W. Bush. Presidents, or our presidential candidates talk about their faith a great deal on the campaign trail. And I'm hard pressed to see, with the exception of Jimmy Carter, over the last 50 years, where a candidate's faith or his professions of faith actually influenced his policies as president. So if that's sort of cynical view is coming out of the Bush White House, I think we probably should pay attention to it.</s>PHILLIPS: So how important is it that our president is God centered? How does that translate into running our country?</s>BALMER: Well, I think, again, over the past half century, it has not translated all that obviously, or apparently. But I think the reason that we voters keep asking the question, is that for Americans, in a place where we don't have a state church, or established religion, religion is a proxy for morality. So that when we have a presidential candidate come along, we want to know whether or not that person is a good guy, or good woman, or somebody who is a moral person. And the way we ask that in a kind of shorthand way is, do you go to church? Are you religious? It's not a very good way of answering the question. And in fact, we haven't gotten very good answers, I think, over the last 50 years.</s>PHILLIPS: Let me ask you this, Randall, Lyndon Johnson, right? He wasn't necessarily a religious man.</s>BALMER: Not at all.</s>PHILLIPS: He was pro civil rights. He did all kinds of incredible things for the sake of diversity. You would probably see him as a pretty moral guy, right? Can there be a president where faith is not a priority, and they can still lead the country in a moral way?</s>BALMER: Absolutely. Absolutely. And Lyndon Johnson is fascinating. I became newly intrigued by him when I was doing the research. Lyndon Johnson, as you said, was not an openly pious or religious man. Yet his mother had taught him one simple moral principle. The strong had an obligation to care for the weak. And that helps to explain why Lyndon Johnson, a white Southerner, helped to push through this landmark civil rights legislation, the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the Voting Rights Act of 1965, because the strong had an obligation to care for the weak. It also explains what animated his Great Society ambitions. Tragically, he also applied that to Vietnam to tragic ends.</s>PHILLIPS: Well, you mentioned Carter. You know, I guess he could only kind of be on the rise whether he was a Christian or not. He was coming out of the Nixon era and he was pretty much looked at as the devil. Carter was sort of the redeemer president.</s>BALMER: He was.</s>PHILLIPS: Which is sort of where Barack Obama is, right, Randall. I mean, final thoughts here. Barack Obama's a human being. He's not the messiah. But he is sort of being looked at as this sort of redeemer president, coming in to save the world.</s>BALMER: Absolutely. I think three times in the past 50 years, in the case of Jimmy Carter in 1976, George W. Bush actually himself, in 2000, after the Clinton indiscretions, and now I think Barack Obama after the Bush presidency. All three times, we as voters have looked to these candidates as redeemer presidents, trying to set us back on a more moral course.</s>PHILLIPS: Well, your book was fascinating, "God In The White House". Randall Balmer, what a pleasure to talk to you. Thanks for your time.</s>BALMER: My pleasure. Thank you.</s>PHILLIPS: Barack Obama won over lots of women voters. But some are already unhappy with him. What's he done, or not done four days in? One thing he'll definitely have to do, deal with this region, right here. Pakistan's definitely on the map today after suspected U.S. missile strikes. We'll take you straight to Islamabad.