The Reality-Based Community

 A mite bit obscure

While we're speculating about possible biblical allusions in Obama's speech, they're Huckabee's stock in trade--and he might not be so well understood as he thinks.

"We've also seen that the widow's mite has more effectiveness than all the gold in the world."

We asked Daria Teutonico and Richard Pettit about the widow's mite as they walked to lunch on Pennsylvania Avenue.

"I have no clue," was Teutonico's answer. "I thought a mite was a bug."

"Is it a spider?" Pettit added. They both laughed.

The widow's mite actually refers to a poor woman Jesus observed giving a small coin to God. It was all she had.

Like every person we stopped, Teutonico and Pettit were raised in Christian households and had attended Sunday school. But Boston University professor Stephen Prothero says they're not alone in being mystified by Huckabee's rhetoric.

I've never read the New Testament, and I've heard maybe two church sermons (other than Rev. Lovejoy's), but all of Huckabee's allusions are familiar, except for Jesse's sons--and I'm pretty sure that Jessie's Girl is far more familiar to most.