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Friday, January 26, 2018

A tawdry tale, with Slate asking the germane question: What Is a “Faith Consultant”?



Somebody did not get fired, with NYT posting a factual report, this link. (The source of the above image). Read it for background. The guy looks like Ned Beatty could play him in a film version.

Wikipedia, on this Burns Strider person, notes:

Strider was born in Grenada [MS, not the invaded Caribbean island] to Grenada County Sheriff Jesse "Big Daddy" Strider. Burns' oldest brother continues the legacy and serves as Grenada County Sheriff, and his family, siblings, aunts, uncles, cousins and others live in Grenada on the family farm.

Yep. A Ned Beatty role so clear, thus far. (Coincidentally at a guess he was born to Big Daddy's wife, Wikipeda usually not being so inexact.)

WaPo here, but largely cumulative to the NYT item. If time permits, read both. At least scan read, for background.

Atlantic has a slant:

The Times story paints a picture of a Hillary Clinton who is, given her history, both a recipient of harassment and a passive enabler of it. A manager, in other words, like so many of the others who have been revealed in the journalism of the post-Weinstein months: one who learns of an accusation of harassment and addresses it by disrupting the life of the alleged victim, rather than the life of the alleged perpetrator. The boss who found enough evidence of Burns Strider’s wrongdoing to dock his pay and put him in counseling … but who kept him on staff—with all its many other young women—nonetheless. Here is Clinton serving, yet again, as a rich metaphor—this time, though, for complacency and complicity. For powerful people who are concerned, but not concerned enough.

And also: for managers who meet the humanity at the heart of harassment allegations with the clinical language of corporate callousness. It’s unsurprising, perhaps, but notable nonetheless that Clinton responded to the Times’ reporting with a statement that was many steps removed from Clinton, the person: It was written by Utrecht, Kleinfeld, Fiori, Partners, the law firm [...]

Yeah, I voted for Jill Stein. For what that is worth.

Yet it is Slate which gets to the nub of things:

Strider was arguably the most prominent member of a very small group of people who make a living as “faith consultants” to Democrats—advisors who make introductions between candidates and religious influencers, and help candidates craft language and policies to appeal to them. It’s a tiny community in large part because contemporary Democratic campaigns do so little outreach to religious groups. Congressional campaigns rarely have faith outreach staffers, and Democratic presidential campaigns hire them much later in the campaign cycle than Republicans do. It’s a job that basically exists for six months out of every four years. In the off-season, many of them run consulting firms that connect corporate and nonprofit clients with “values-based” communities. Strider is the founder of the American Values Network, a lobbying group, and a consulting firm, Eleison Group, whose clients have included the Democratic National Committee. “Eleison” is a part of a Greek phrase used in many Christian liturgies; it means “have mercy.”

Strider’s job in the 2008 campaign was “to close the God Gap and the Bubba Gap,” as the Times wrote in a 2008 profile. At the time, candidate Obama had been recently caught on tape referring to working-class voters as “bitter” people who “cling to guns or religion.” Strider’s credibility came in part from his Mississippi upbringing; he is a one-time Southern Baptist missionary and the son of a local sheriff known as “Big Daddy.”

Burl Ives had that "Big Daddy" role in the film adaption of the Tennessee Williams play. But I digress.

The whole point is why would anybody keep around "a faith advisor." Like having a pet snake, graceful but you have to buy rats to feed it. It seems like a job title for someone you'd be watching while expecting to see a trailing oil slick from such a political operative's walking past. Bad News in spades. Legitimate - like getting a dollar three eighty change on a three dollar bill.

One Slate sentence pair stands out:

It’s a job that basically exists for six months out of every four years. In the off-season, many of them run consulting firms that connect corporate and nonprofit clients with “values-based” communities.

In the off-season they shed their skins and grow, and look for what's there to feed on.

Slate might well have asked, "Who needs a 'Faith Consultant'?" "Nobody in his/her right mind" would be an apt answer. Just simply decline to suffer fools.