It’s one thing to hope that you’re doing G-d’s work, it’s another entirely to argue that the will of G-d is definable along the lines of petty human partisanship in order to garner support for your disastrous policies. G-d’s will is opaque, and so as President Abraham Lincoln said, our concern should not be whether G-d is on our side, but whether we are on G-d’s side.

Nevertheless, Sarah Palin once said that the Iraq War is “G-d’s plan,” and today Michael Goldfarb defends this view:

This is an incredibly humble statement, a statement that this campaign stands by 100%, and a sentiment that any religious American will share — the hope that our country’s actions are indeed righteous.

There’s nothing “humble” about proclaiming that you have a supernatural understanding of G-d’s will that other human beings lack. Still, as long as the McCain campaign is taking this approach, the press should be asking them what else G-d is telling John McCain and Sarah Palin to do, and what other wars G-d would have them start.

–A. Serwer

Adam Serwer is a writing fellow at The American Prospect and a graduate of the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism. He also blogs at Jack and Jill Politics and has written for The Village Voice, The Washington Post, The Root, and the Daily News. Follow @adamserwer