OBAMA:
Yep. Every week. 11 oclock service.
-snip-
FALSANI:
Who's Jesus to you?
(He laughs nervously)
OBAMA:
Right.
Jesus is an historical figure for me, and he's also a bridge between God and man, in the Christian faith, and one that I think is powerful precisely because he serves as that means of us reaching something higher.
FALSANI:
-snip-
Do you have people in your life that you look to for guidance?
OBAMA:
Well, my pastor [Jeremiah Wright] is certainly someone who I have an enormous amount of respect for.
I have a number of friends who are ministers. Reverend Meeks is a close friend and colleague of mine in the state Senate. Father Michael Pfleger is a dear friend, and somebody I interact with closely.
I'd give this the Clinton treatment and parse it carefully:
First part: "Jesus is an historical figure for me". So, that's his own personal feeling about Jesus. He's a guy who lived 2000 years ago, Nothing more than that.
Second part: "he's also a bridge between God and man, in the Christian faith". So, as an mere bit of trivia about the Christian faith (a faith which Obama has heard about), Jesus is supposed to be some sort of bridge. Apparently -- so Obama has heard -- this is an important function within the Christian faith.
Third part: "one that I think is powerful precisely because he serves as that means of us reaching something higher." Here, Obama points out that the quaint notion of Jesus has been influential to a lot of people, because people aspire to something higher. Mind you, Obama can also serve this powerful function himself.
No way is this guy a Christian. He doesn't feel it. He's way too careful in his approach to this topic.
She forgot to ask him if he believed he had a soul.
She asked him a lot of questions & in someways hinted at that but never asked him directly.I think that is a important sort of question.