Cross-posted at Truth About McCain.

In the above YouTube video, focused entirely on Barack Obama and the religious subtext to his political message, John McCain concedes, "Barack Obama: He may be the One.  But is he ready to lead."    

It seems to me that in this ad John McCain falls into the trap of repeating and popularizing his opponents' best lines for the purpose of vaguely trying to punch holes in them.  

America is a very religious country, with ninety percent of people saying they believe in God.  So a candidate who says that he feels a mission to lead and has been chosen to do so may have a much better chance than another candidate who ridicules the religous content of his opponent's mission, without offering any religious content of his own.

 John McCain's slogan is, "Barack Obama:  He may be "The One", but is he ready to lead?" If America decides that Obama is more ready to lead than McCain, then McCain's McCain may find that it is essentially over.  

Religious people take leaps of faith, and "faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things unseen."  If McCain's campaign depends on convincing religious people not to have faith, that makes him a negative naysaying tool of doom rather than the man to lift up the nation in troubled times.  

Obama has deftly manipulated McCain into the role of doubting the power not only of hope, but also the power of faith.  He's turnng McCain into the John Kerry of the 2004 election, with Obama taking the mantle of hope and faith and McCain doubting their power in the face of a faithfully-oriented nation.

The video ends with Charlton Heston playing Moses, parting the Red Sea, which is one of the most popular movies among white people. Regardless of the reason, will McCain benefit from ridiculing that image and essentially doubting its underlying religious message?  I don’t think so.

Hat Tip to Agent X.