The Iowa caucuses are in two weeks and Texas Gov. Rick Perry is touring the state in a bus that carries a slogan that matches the changed focus of his endangered presidential campaign: “Faith, Jobs and Freedom.”
Back in August, when Perry launched his campaign, the slogan plastered across the side of his bus was “Get America Working Again.” But with Iowa’s conservative evangelicals possibly up for grabs (60 percent of participants in the 2008 Iowa Republican caucuses called themselves evangelicals, according to polls at the time), faith has supplanted jobs in the slogan department, with freedom thrown in for good measure. (Freedom’s always good for good measure in presidential campaigns.)
In last week’s Republican debate in Sioux City, Perry called himself “the Tim Tebow of the Iowa caucuses,” comparing himself to the Denver Broncos quarterback who’s the talk and hype of the NFL after a series of come-from-behind wins (until Sunday’s big loss to Tom Brady and the New England Patriots, that is). Perry is hoping for a political comeback as dramatic as Tebow’s late-game heroics. If he can pull enough evangelical voters his way to finish in third place or a respectably close fourth place in Iowa Jan. 3, Perry will be crowned the comeback kid and will have fresh momentum to carry him to New Hampshire on Jan. 10 and South Carolina Jan. 21.
Perry’s ability to come from behind remains to be seen, but his mix of faith and politics matches Tebow’s mix of faith and football in stirring controversy. (A “Saturday Night Live” skit this past weekend spoofed Tebow’s gridiron displays of religion: “Tim, I love you, but just take it down a notch, will ya, buddy,” Jesus, played by Jason Sudeikis, tells Tebow, played by Taran Killam.) When Perry, Tebow and other public figures trumpet their faith, I always think of Jesus in the Gospel of Matthew and his criticism of the self-righteous who “love to pray standing in the synagogues and in the corners of the streets, that they may be seen of men.” Such public expressions of faith and piety — “all their works they do for to be seen of men” — contradict the personal and private relationship with God that Jesus teaches his followers.
By now, you have seen the 30-second campaign ad titled “Strong,” Perry’s exploitation of his faith for political gain. Verily, when thou art behind in the polls in Iowa and desperately need evangelical conservatives to vote for you else your campaign come to a grinding halt, go all-out demagogic:
“I’m not ashamed to admit that I’m a Christian,” Perry says. “But you don’t need to be in the pew every Sunday to know there’s something wrong in this country when gays can serve openly in the military but our kids can’t openly celebrate Christmas or pray in school.
“As president, I’ll end Obama’s war on religion. And I’ll fight against liberal attacks on our religious heritage. Faith made America strong. It can make her strong again.”
Hundreds of videos spoofing Perry’s ad have popped up on YouTube since it first aired Dec. 6. I’ve watched about 10 of them. Only a couple are gems. My favorite, by “video blogger” James Kotecki, follows Perry’s script and turns it back on the governor: “I’m not ashamed to admit that I’m an atheist, but you don’t need to sleep in every Sunday to know there’s something wrong in this country when Rick Perry can be openly homophobic but our kids can’t openly celebrate evolution or learn science in school. ”