Obama Election (2008)

Barack Obama's election in 2008 was experienced by a significant portion of white evangelical America as an existential threat — not merely a political setback. The response was immediate and intense: the Tea Party movement (2009), the birther conspiracy, the proliferation of 'Obama is a Muslim' claims, and ultimately the entire 'take back America' political project that culminated in 2016. The Christian nationalist framing was explicit: America was a Christian nation, Obama represented the forces that were 'fundamentally transforming' it away from God, and faithful Christians had a duty to resist. The language of cultural warfare, already established over decades, intensified dramatically. Focus on the Family, the Family Research Council, and other Christian right organizations produced an enormous volume of content framing the Obama years as an attack on religious liberty, traditional marriage, and Christian America. The Hobby Lobby case (2014) and the same-sex marriage cases became the crystallizing legal battles. Historically, this period represents the moment when Christian nationalism became visibly entangled with white racial anxiety in a way that had always been present but was now undeniable. Scholars such as Robert P. Jones argue that the 'take back' language carried racial meaning for many who used it.

Themes this entry appears in

• Christian Nationalism
• Anti-Democratic
• Anti-LGBTQ
• Race & Civil Rights

Connections from Obama Election (2008)

• influenced → Birther Movement (2009) — Critics argue the birther movement was less a spontaneous conspiracy theory than a political response to a Black man in the presidency. The claim that Barack Obama was not born in the United States emerged in fringe internet forums during the 2008 campaign, was amplified by minor political figures, and became a persistent feature of Republican political culture throughout Obama's two terms. Survey research has found belief in the birther claim strongly associated with partisanship and anti-Black attitudes (Pasek and colleagues, Electoral Studies, 2015). Some evangelical leaders promoted birther claims — Franklin Graham questioned Obama's birthplace in 2011 — and few publicly challenged them. Donald Trump's deployment of birtherism beginning in 2011 demonstrated that the conspiracy had become a credential with the Republican base, particularly its white evangelical component. Obama's election created the political conditions for birtherism; the pre-existing infrastructure of racial grievance politics gave it a ready distribution network.

Connections to Obama Election (2008)

• Focus on the Family responded to (2008) — Focus on the Family dramatically escalated its political output during the Obama years, framing his presidency as an attack on religious liberty and the Christian family. The organization produced extensive campaigns against same-sex marriage and the Affordable Care Act's contraception mandate.
• Rick Warren influenced (2008) — In August 2008 Warren hosted the Civil Forum on the Presidency at Saddleback Church, the first joint appearance of John McCain and Barack Obama as presumptive nominees, with Warren questioning each on faith, abortion and marriage. Obama later chose Warren to deliver the invocation at his January 2009 inauguration.

Sources

• Jesus and John Wayne — Kristin Kobes Du Mez (2020), pp. 230-255