Weigel: «U.S. Democrats will play dirty because they haven’t good results to show»

How much has changed the public opinion perception about president Obama after four years of economic crisis?
He seems to retain a rather high degree of personal popularity, but there are many, many doubts about his policies. thus his personal poll ratings are high and his job ratings are low.

Do you think Usa people keep their hopes in the future and maintain their capacity to start again?
Americans are a resilient people; we are not ion “demographic winter” like europe; there’s a lot of creative energy in the country — so, yes, americans can build a humane and decemnt future.

In a recent poll of Rasmussen Reports Obama looks like losing against a generic Republican candidate but defeating Mitt Romney with a small margin. Do you think the Gop should choose another candidate?
It’s very early in the nominating process. my guess is that mr. romney will be the republican nominee, but politics is a strange business and many unexpected things can happen. what we do know is that the democrats will run a very nasty, class-warfare campaign; they have no record of accomplishment to run on, so they’ll get very unpleasant.

The economic policy is the principal focus of the Republican campaign, but social issues like family and abortion continue to be important. How come that, no matter the 6 per cent rate of unemployment, American people keep on being sensitive to these issues?
Unemployment is actually 8.5% the life issues are alive in america because of the character of the country and because of the effective work of the pro-life movement.

Rick Santorum, has almost won the Gop’s election in Iowa and he has received the endorsement of Christian Leaders. It seems that in this confusing moment big chunks of Protestants and Catholics are finding a unity. Is it for real?
Now those evangelical leaders, or some of them are saying there was no “endorsement.” in any event, the single best predictor of voting behavior in the United States is not whether you are protestant or catholic, but how frequently you are in church. those who attend church weekly tend to vote republican; those who never attend church tend to vote democratic; and the scale slides in between — the more frequently you are in church, the more you are likely to vote republican. rick santorum is an old friend for whose courage and commitment to the life issues i deeply admire. he is doing america a great service by keeping those issues in the debate.

Christians seem even to have found a new perception of the importance of religion in the public sphere. What has engendered this change?
Americans have been aware of the importance of religious conviction and religiously-informed moral ideas in public life for a very long time. There’s nothing new about it as you’ll see if you read Lincoln’s second inaugural address, or Washington’s farewell address.