Christine O'Donnell Loses Cliff's Notes

Well, Christine O'Donnell shows her remarkably slick grasp on prefabbed talking points.  "Where in the Constitution is the separation of church and state?" she posed to her debate opponent, expecting to sound witty and magisterial.  The spontaneous laughs from the audience should enough to teach her not to return to the point, but she plows on gamely, "Let me just clarify, you're telling me that the separation of church and state is found in the First Amendment."  Coons cites a slightly mangled version of the amendment to her and she, as if hearing it for the first time, responds "That's in the first amendment?"

O'Donnell represents a peculiarly American failure in education.  Our intellectual blandness, the tribalism of our religious cults and a seemingly bottomless well of patience for the lunatic fringe guarantee that the peculiar and laughable will ultimately take center stage.  Yet Christine O'Donnell surfs all rugged terrain with the confidence of the proudly ignorant.  Does the Constitution say 'Separation of Church and State'?  She points out that she doesn't see those words.  But law is made by written doctrine and judges' interpretation of facts.  Even strict constructionist judges must concede (since they are in fact 'judges') that texts alone are dead, that it requires a human head and hand to define the point where letter and fact meet.

The facts are clear in this case, and the letter of the Constitution most amply supports, that if the government throws its weight behind the cart of any creed, it puts all others at a disadvantage.  Is O'Donnell suggesting that the government should discriminate against certain citizens?  Maybe this is an uncharitable view of her positions.  It is certainly true that Ms. O'Donnell is able to make the most incongruent notions coexist in her head.  She told New York Times writer Mark Leibovitch that she 'embraced' both Protestantism and Catholicism.  What is the key ingredient that allows her to both believe that the Pope is the Vicar of Christ on Earth, and that he isn't?  Or to believe that one must confess to a priest and receive absolution from him, and that one doesn't?

Looking back on what I've written, it seems to me that I may have been too harsh in holding her to any line of doctrines.  She is quite young and has room to grow politically and intellectually.  Perhaps after this election season, in which she seems poised to lose by an enormous margin, she will manage to find common ground in what so many other bright politicians have so far failed to do.  Perhaps in 2012, O'Donnell will 'embrace' both Democratic and Republican policies to find the happy middle ground of the proudly ignorant.