One of the more interesting side effects of the so-called “Bittergate” remarks by Sen. Obama (and Clinton’s beer-guzzling response in a bar in Indiana) is what Daniel Henninger from The Wall Street Journal is calling the end, or at least the beginning of the end, of the “culture wars” of the 1990s. With Democrats finally realizing that the middle of America, the muddled moderates who tend to go to church and who might, in fact, own a gun or know people who do, are vitally important to winning a general election against McCain.

As Henninger puts it:

Hit rewind on the tape of history. It is 1992, the Republican Convention in Houston, at the Astrodome. This was the moment of arrival for the “Christian right.” Dan Quayle, George H.W. Bush’s VP nominee, spoke to a huge throng of evangelicals about “family values.” Pat Buchanan delivered his “culture wars” speech. The press corps, for whom all this was alien ground, was openly hostile to the GOP.

Shelves bend beneath the weight of books analyzing the “war” between religiously oriented cultural conservatives and secular libs. “Piss Christ” and all that. Abortion. Robert Mapplethorpe’s erotic photographs banned in Cincinnati. Abortion. Gun control. Michael Moore mocking Charlton Heston. Hollywood’s endless Babylon. Home schoolers. Abortion.

Though vilified, these people wouldn’t go away. The exit polls for George W. Bush’s victory in 2004 revealed that the No. 1 issue for most voters was “moral values.” Liberal analysts furiously attacked Karl Rove for “exploiting” these sentiments.

But even Karl Rove couldn’t invent God, and God and faith were everywhere in Grantham Sunday evening.

It may be just a fad. Perhaps the Democrats will continue to struggle with reaching out to reddish middle America. But that’s beside the point.

Some bloodless analysts have said for several years that Democrats had to say this to win because, you know, a lot of people “go to church.” And yes, what candidates seeking votes say may be false, faked or fantastic. What remains is the fact that these two, in competition for votes, have conferred political legitimacy and respect on this swath of America.