Variations in what the 'values voters' put their value in

In retrospect, it was probably not the best way to reassure the faithful. When James Dobson, child psychologist turned political kingmaker, rose to speak at the Values Voter Summit dinner, he first complained about media reports that the religious right was dead. Then he cheerily announced, "Welcome to the morgue."

Yes, well, not yet. The much-reported news from last weekend's gathering was that honchos of the religious right are still wanted by Republican candidates. Romney flashed his family credentials so brightly you could hardly see his flip-flop footwear. Thompson promised his first hour in the Oval Office would be spent praying. Huckabee claimed, "You are my roots." Even Giuliani offered the lame reassurance that "you have absolutely nothing to fear from me." If the summit-goers did not meet in a morgue, they left in mourning for a candidate to call their own. But you don't have to be a political pathologist to see the real message from the meeting. There are signs of ideological rigor mortis among the old guard.

Think back to 2004, the "Year of the Values Voter." The religious right claimed credit for Bush's re-election and grabbed the word "values" the way they'd grabbed the word "life." Anyone who considered war to be a moral issue was ignored. Anyone who wasn't a member of the anti-abortion, anti-gay, fundamentalist right was, literally, de-valued. Two years later, despair over the war and dismay about scandals had widened the morals agenda. And Democrats had narrowed the so-called God gap.

But at the Family Research Council gathering, Dobson's famous child-raising book, "Dare to Discipline," must have been required reading. This was a gathering of emeriti from Eagle Forum's Phyllis Schlafly to Virtue Gambler Bill Bennett to Spurned Justice Bob Bork. They were grooving to the oldies, from abortion to gay marriage. You would think nothing was changing among social conservatives. But many conservatives are taking steps across old borders.

Step One: The Environment. Never mind that Dobson once described global warming worries as a vast distraction from the great moral issues. For the past several years, evangelicals have sounded more like environmentalists. Last summer, five prominent religious leaders, including Richard Cizik of the National Association of Evangelicals, and five scientists, including James McCarthy of Harvard, toured Alaska together. As Cizik said, "We dare to imagine a world in which science and religion cooperate -- minimizing our differences about how creation got started, to work together to reverse its degradation."

Step Two: Family. The "values voters" applauded the presidential veto against extending children's health care. But on family matters, there are some unusual connections between former untouchables such as Roberta Combs, head of the Christian Coalition, and Joan Blades of both MoveOn.org and MomsRising. "At the end of the day, it's all about family," says Combs, who favors paid family medical leave, an idea that was once anathema to conservatives.

Step Three: Liberty. The right's American Freedom Agenda and the left's American Freedom Campaign sound as similar as their names in alarm over assaults on the Constitution.

I'm not suggesting that social conservatives and liberals are going to be singing in the same choir or chorus. The left got a three-year head start on the search for common ground. Now some on the right are moving onto this terrain. This leaves the "values voters" leadership boogieing like they did in 2004, stuck on their elevated summit far above the madding crowd ... of voters. The only thing that seemed to rouse their pre-Halloween spirits was the specter of that wicked witch, Hillary Clinton. The big laugh line of the weekend? "We put our 'Run, Hillary, Run' bumper stickers on the front of our cars."

Come to think of it, this is starting to look like a cold case.

© 2007, Washington Post Writers Group