The Power of the Prayer Breakfast

If there is one place on the planet where the philandering South Carolina Gov. Mark "Argentine Soulmate" Sanford, can go knowing he'll be accepted, if not altogether forgiven for grievous sins of arrogance and lust, it is the National Prayer Breakfast.

So along with 3,000 other people -- including Heisman-trophy winner Tim Tebow, who stars with his mother in an anti-abortion ad to air during the Super Bowl, Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero who delivered his message in Spanish, and former CBS newsman Dan Rather, who said he was doing the same there as I was, which I guess means reporting -- Sanford entered the Hilton Washington's mega-ballroom Thursday morning for some spiritual sustenance, coffee and quiche. But the once-garrulous sinner wasn't talking. Perhaps he knows he's already said too much, or that "Staying True," the memoir by his classy, betrayed almost ex-wife Jenny Sanford, goes on sale Friday amid much publicity.

What makes this event, presented by the Senate and House Prayer Breakfasts, such a safe harbor for Sanford and many others is that it organized by The Fellowship Foundation, a conservative Christian group that includes numerous influential lawmakers, business, religious and charitable leaders worldwide. The other Foundation venture of note, and notoriety, is its ownership of a Capitol Hill boarding house where Sanford used to pray when in Congress, and where he sought extramarital counseling, as did two resident bad boys, Republican Sen. John Ensign of Nevada and former Rep. Chip Pickering of Mississippi.

That bit of unpleasantness, which flared up last summer, had no visible effect on the demand for tickets, in part because forgiveness is an important element among the prayerful gathered here. So is the spiritual and temporal networking that goes on during two days of meals and meetings. Rep. John Boozman, a member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, sat down with several African leaders after the speeches. (In a side note illustrating how volatile the 2010 election has become, Boozman is set to announce Feb. 6 whether he'll enter the Arkansas primary as one of 10 Republicans hoping to unseat vulnerable Democratic Sen. Blanche Lincoln. She did not attend the breakfast.)

For President Obama -- who, like every chief exec since Eisenhower, has spoken to the this group -- his 17-minute speech was the latest call for civility and tolerance at a time when debates over everything from health care to Haiti are toxic and ugly, To that volatile mix has just been added gays in the military. "We may disagree about gay marriage but surely we can agree that it is unconscionable to target gays and lesbians for who they are, whether it's here in the United States," he said, or in nations such as Uganda, which is considering a law to jail or execute homosexuals.

Two days earlier, Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs, told the Senate it is his "personal belief" the time has come to repeal the 17-year-old "don't ask, don't tell" ban on gays and lesbians serving openly in the military, though only after a one-year study. Despite some congressional, military and public opposition, Mullen called it "the right thing to do." This may be why, before delivering Thursday's benediction for world leaders, Mullen joked, "When my wife, Deborah, informed me that one of the world leaders I'd be praying for was probably me, something I hadn't really considered, I actually started taking this very seriously."

Standing outside the closed ballroom doors (C-SPAN and the White House traveling pool were the only media allowed inside) I thought about the timing of this hot-button issue and the ongoing culture wars. In this year of Tea Party anger and insurgent Republican victories, former House Speaker Newt Gingich is urging the GOP to try to take back the House and Senate using his updated Contract for America, and by tarring Democrats as a "secular socialist coalition."

Amid all the rhetoric, backers of the repeal say it is long overdue. Among them is retired Gen. Colin Powell, a former chairman of the joint chiefs, who opposed the original don't ask/don't tell legislation. Those on the other side aruge the ban must stay in place for military unit cohesion and to protect the rights and privacy of straight personnel.

It is a fight gay rights activist and Democratic political consultant Robert Raben welcomes. The former Clinton Justice Department official, who did not breakfast at the Hilton, calls the repeal "a fantastic bellwether" that could pit "the values right against the libertarian right."

"The values right will spend the next year focusing on the hard cases, male on male rape in the military, or whether gay marriage will be dignified by the military. You have libertarians who are now a growing stream of the Republican Party who don't care about gay-bashing or gay rights. They are aware that discharging 13,000 people after spending so much time and money to train them, discharging Arab linguists, is a waste of precious resources. Democratic liberals will work with the libertarian right to make our fight." And Democratic conservatives? Raben predicts, "they will get caught up the same values-versus-libertarian fight" as Republicans.

In searching for yet another voice on the subject, but one with no dog in this current fight, I turned to Charlie Ragusa, the longtime Hilton banquet captain, who has been helping set up the National Prayer Breakfast "for as long as it's been at the hotel," which means since 1983. "Everybody is here to say a prayer in friendship," he said. "They should learn to get along with each other, not once a year but all year long."

And what does he think of gays in the military? "Look, I am one of four brothers who served. I was on the DMZ in Korea when they signed the peace. I think gays have a right to do whatever they want in accordance to the law, just as straights have to. Don't mix and match laws," he urged lawmakers. As for gays, he suggests, "a guy's away from home, don't take advantage of him."