Spiritual Advisors

For decades (from Harry Truman to George W. Bush) Billy Graham was known as the pastor to presidents. Under normal circumstances Jeremiah Wright might have been Barack Obama's pastor, but that was not to be. Instead, we are told that President Obama looks to a circle of five noted clergymen (no women). They include Jim Wallis, an evangelical with an enduring reputation as a social justice activist; Joel Hunter, a relatively moderate conservative megachurch pastor; T. D. Jakes, pastor of The Potter's House in Dallas, Texas; Otis Moss, Jr. who was an associate of Martin Luther King, Jr., and Kirbyjon Caldwell (who also advised George W. Bush on occasion). The New York Times reports that Obama consults with these men by telephone and not infrequently initiates phone-prayer with them.
Given the current economic crisis, two ongoing wars, and an ambitious domestic agenda, it is encouraging to know that our new president values spiritual support. I and most of my friends wish him well and wish him success. However, we should not to read too much into this. Previous presidents -- Richard Nixon, Bill Clinton, and the aforementioned George W., for example -- also made much of their spirituality, but led the country into the morasses of Watergate, White House sex, and Iraq respectively. Some presidents of my generation, like Eisenhower and Reagan, were not ostentatiously religious, but served us well. Ultimately, what presidents are judged on is not their character but their policies, and whether these policies promoted the general welfare and were at least moderately successful.