Praying that Clinton Will Stay on Message

The Celebration of a New Baptist Covenant is a week away and, for the first time, I am starting to have an uneasy feeling about what Bill Clinton will say at the meeting.

I attended the press conference last April when Carter and Clinton announced the Celebration to the public. At that meeting, I heard Clinton openly speak about his faith and left convinced that his profession of faith in Christ is genuine, that his grasp of Baptist pinciples is profound, and that his commitment to separation of church and state is sincere. If Clinton speaks at the Celebration the way that he spoke during that press conference, then my uneasiness about the speech he will give at the Celebration will prove unfounded.

Last April, however, no one suspected that an African-American would be the chief rival standing between Bill Clinton's wife and the presidency. Then, no one suspected that the African-American community would be severly divided about who they would support for president. T. DeWitt Smith, President of the Progressive National Baptist Convention, joked at the press conference that his son was impressed that his father would be meeting "the first African-American President." The possibility that Clinton would be tempted to veer away from a message about faith to make a statement in support of Hillary's candidacy seemed remote.

Now we know that the stakes for the February 5th Democratic primaries are enormous. Now we know that Bill's role in Hillary's campaign has been to "lash out" against Obama and that his message is targeted towards African-Americans and young people.

There are going to be a lot of African-Americans and young people at the Celebration of a New Baptist Covenant. The temptation for Bill to deliver a political message, instead of a spiritual message, will be great.

It may be too great a temptation.

I pray that it isn't.