Obama’s Other Pastor

Caldwell has his detractors, who accuse him of being an opportunist. After he decided in 2000 to support Bush at the RNC, he appeared on his friend Ralph Cooper's drive-time radio show to explain. Local people were calling him a snake and a Judas, according to the Houston Chronicle, and callers tied up the line for hours. During the three-hour show, callers were dramatically split on whether Caldwell was right or wrong to support the governor, Cooper recalls. "I fully understand why people would be upset," says Caldwell. "I saw President Bush as an exception—that's why I took the leap of faith."

More recently, Caldwell has come under fire for supposedly betraying his beliefs. In January, gay groups discovered a ministry called Metanoia on the Windsor Village Web site whose stated aim was to help homosexuals understand with God's help that "change was possible" (euphemistic language for "curing" gays). After the groups launched a small battery of protests online, Caldwell says, he received a call from the Obama campaign. "They asked, 'What is Metanoia?,' and they commenced to say they had gotten some calls." Not wishing to cause his candidate any "unnecessary angst," Caldwell voluntarily took the ministry off the Web site, though the ministry itself, which he says was started at the request of church members, remained open. Metanoia, he adds, will be back online soon. The Obama campaign did not comment.

The Rev. DL Foster runs "Witness Freedom Ministries Inc.," an Atlanta-based program aimed at "converting" gays; he believes Caldwell betrayed his own Christian convictions when he took the ministry offline. He points out that among African-Americans, support for gay marriage is far lower than in the general population (some polls put the number as low as one quarter, compared with 40 percent of whites), and that black churches traditionally preach a conservative view of homosexuality. "From what I saw, Reverend Caldwell wanted to be a kingmaker in the Houston area for Obama," says Foster. "I think he wanted to do so very badly; he was willing to scuttle whatever religious beliefs he had on homosexuality." Caldwell responds that he does see homosexual sex—as well as adultery and premarital sex—as acts of "sinfulness." On gay marriage, he says, "I agree with Senator Obama on this one. I think marriage is between a man and a woman, but I support gay persons' rights under the Constitution."

Like a savvy politician, Caldwell can sometimes seem to be splitting hairs. When asked, for example, why he endorsed Bush, he says, "Actually, I supported him as a person. I never officially endorsed him as a candidate." In 2000 he emphatically refuted accusations that he was playing into Republican tokenism, and he questioned whether blacks had to vote Democratic just because they were black. His presence at the convention, he said, was a good thing. It would draw more people into the political process. "Never in the history of the Republican convention … have so many Houstonians paid such close attention."

Now Caldwell uses that same argument to defend himself against the charge that he switched sides because Obama is black. "It is both erroneous and insulting to assume that I in particular and black folk in general are voting for Barack just because he's black. Black folk have voted for a whole bunch of white folk here in America."

Don't label me, Caldwell insists again and again, with his actions and his words. His world is a kaleidoscope of contradictions. He is decisive and a worrier, a workaholic and an attentive family man, a preacher and an executive, humble and attention-seeking, collaborative and demanding. As he sweeps into the brand-new Kingdom Builders' Center—190,000 square feet brilliant with skylights and buzzing with staff—Caldwell greets every person by name, while texting on his cell phone and talking to a reporter. He notices that the potted plants he asked for have not been put outside by the back door. "They're by the front door," the building manager responds. "This is like the White House," Caldwell responds, curtly. "There is no front." As Bush Sr. says, Obama is lucky to have this fine man in his corner—at least for now.

© 2008