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Kuo confesses his own captivation with political power, acknowledging that politics was of much greater importance in his life than God or family. He offers several examples of his own disingenuous actions to bring home his point. Kuo recalls his response to Ralph Reed, who contacted him to ask if he wrote speeches: "Sure," I said quickly, even though I had never written a full speech for another person—or myself—in my life. I had drafted paragraphs here and there, written op–eds, and made suggestions for Mike [Gerson's] speeches, but I figured that was good enough." Describing his scramble to fund his start–up charity, Kuo talks about his interactions with Doug Coe, leader of the influential yet largely unknown group the Fellowship: "I wanted answers—and to be honest, I also wanted access to some of the donors connected to the Fellowship." These revelations effectively bring home Kuo's point that Christians can easily lose sight of their values when captivated by politics and personal ambition. At the same time, however, they create a nagging suspicion in the back of the reader's mind: if Kuo was so willing to lie and manipulate in the past for self–serving ends, how do I know that I can trust him now?
Which leads us to the second "book" within Tempting Faith, the insider tell–all that is capturing so much of the media attention. Recounting his two–year stint as the Deputy Director of the White House Office of Faith–Based and Community Initiatives, Kuo criticizes President Bush and his White House apparatus for failing to deliver on their promises and—especially—for viewing the faith–based initiative as nothing more than a political tool.
Kuo's insider account rarely authenticates sources. Instead, he quotes liberally from speeches and books, recounts entire conversations, and even quotes internal documents (such as an e–mail from his boss, Jim Towey, to his superiors) with nary an attribution. The same author who admitted engaging in disingenuous behavior when it served his own ends now describes private meetings and virtually says, "trust me." In the same pages that call Christians to practice compassion and to honor the name of Jesus, the author is attributing troubling motivations to his former superiors and revealing confidences from closed–door meetings.
Concerns about the genre aside, how does Kuo's inside story stack up? During much of the time that Kuo was working in the faith–based office, two political science colleagues and I were devoting the better part of two years researching and writing a book about the initiative. Social scientists like to resolve puzzles. Ours was this: Presidential candidates Bush and Gore held similar positions favoring increased government partnership with faith–based organizations. How did this bipartisan agreement change so quickly to bitter partisan discord? Or more simply, what happened to Bush's promised faith–based initiative? In the end, our research revealed that the initiative was largely a legislative failure but a muted administrative success.
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