The candidate we all want – that no one will support

I’m not big into the political scene. My wife is the political one in our family; she likes to watch CNN in the evenings and hear about what’s going on in the political realm and with the different candidates. Not me; I hate politics – well, at best I dislike them. After all, politicians are a bunch of lyin’, schemin’ two-bit phonies who are only out for themselves and will say anything to get elected to any office. Or are they? Enter Mike Huckabee, a candidate seeking the Republican presidential nomination. From the outset, Huckabee shatters the ‘traditional politician’ mold. Yes, he’s the former governor of Arkansas, but previous to his political carrer he was a Baptist pastor in Arkansas and a leader of the Arkansas Southern Baptist Convention. My attention was first drawn to Mike Huckabee through a video I saw of him answering a question on whether or not he believed in evolution. His answer was simple and to the point, “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth…” (Click “see all # videos” in vod:pod in the right column to view clip entitled ‘Mike Huckabee on evolution’).

Huckabee is a ‘traditional’ Republican – very strong on moral issues such as the sanctity of life and marriage, a staunch defender of the 2nd Ammendment, and has an agressive stance on national security and foreign policy – but he can also be very ‘untraditional’, often thinking outside the box on areas such as health care (advocating greater funds spent on prevention than treatment), the economy (reducing spending rather than increasing taxes), and taxes (read about the “fair tax” and his idea to eliminate the IRS!). Huckabee has been described as compassionate and genuinely caring about people; in other words, he fleshes out the words of Jesus when He said, “whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be your slave” (Matt 20:26-27). So my question is, “What’s wrong with Mike Huckabee? Why won’t our conservative, evangelical leaders get behind him?!”

Dr. Bob Jones III recently came out in support of Mitt Romney, a Mormon, for the Republican nomination for president. Now, I have nothing personally against Romney and I don’t think that just because he’s a Mormon means he wouldn’t be a good president, but I just can’t understand why Bob Jones III would throw his hat in Romney’s ring when there’s a guy like Huckabee out there. I mean, here’s the candidate that we conservative evangelicals have always dreamed about, but now no one will step up to the plate and endorse him. Why?!? Well, when I Googled “Bob Jones Mitt Romney” I found my answer on the second link, an article from GreenvilleOnline.com. On this site, Bob Jones III is quoted as saying,

“This is all about beating Hillary [and Guiliani] … And I just believe that this man has all the credentials both personally and ideologically in terms of his view about what the American government should be to best represent the rank and file of conservative Americans.”

Is he saying that Mike Huckabee, who hasn’t waffled on the pro-life issue, couldn’t better represent conservative Americans, especially the conservative evangelicals who have always believed and voted for the sanctity of life? I can’t imagine that! Instead I think that what we have is conservatives scrambling to draw up their best defense to stop Hillary Clinton regardless of what that defense is. Now maybe it’s true, maybe Huckabee wouldn’t stand a chance in a presidential election against Clinton or Obama, but does that mean that we shouldn’t support the candidate that most closely represents our values? Does that mean we should simply jump on the bandwagon of who the pundits tell us is the best Republican hope regardless of what his voting record indicates? No! I believe that morally it’s wrong to choose the most expedient option rather than the best one. That’s playing prevent defense; it’s playing not to lose instead of playing to win – and it doesn’t work. Ask any football fan what they think of the prevent defense and you’ll probably get anywhere from rolling of the eyes to cursing, depending on who you ask – which is pretty much my reaction to many of our conservative leaders’ political strategy.

Fortunately, I’m not alone in this feeling. The GreenvilleOnline.com article also included a quote from a BJU alum who was “disgusted” with Bob Jones III’s support of Romney, saying “I refuse to lower my standards to the lowest common denominator.”

But the truly sad part about this is that it’s not only the conservatives who are noticing the political duplicity of their leaders. One liberal, atheist blog (that’s not a judgment, just a commentary on his links), in commenting about Bob Jones III’s support of Romney asks the question,

“if [you believe mormonism is a cult] and if you have either not voted for a Democratic candidate because of his/her morals/religion, or voted for a Republican because of his/hers, can you still support Mitt Romney for president? And if you answer in the affirmative, what is more important to you: Aligning your political beliefs with an acceptable presidential candidate, or aligning your religious beliefs with what you believe to be the true representation of the ultimate ends of the universe?”

Now I’m not saying that I agree with all this blogger is saying, because he purports that Clinton and/or Obama are “Christian Democrat[s],” but another one of the problems I have with Bob Jones III’s support of Romney, which is brought to light by this post, is that it has given the unbelievers and skeptics ammunition to use against conservative Christians, like the quote this blogger ends his post with:

“I can’t repeat it enough: conservative Christianity has nothing to do with theology and everything to do with emotionality and identity. When you would rather support a blasphemer [Romney as a Mormon] than a Christian Democrat [or, from our viewpoint, a conservative evangelical Christian], the gig is up; political ends trump religious means.”

Can we not do better than this as believers? Can we not come out in support of a conservative, Christian candidate who best represents our values? Would not it send a strong message to the skeptics, the Democrats, and even the Republicans if conservative evangelicals came out overwhelmingly in support of a candidate such as Mike Huckabee who stands strong on the values we hold dear? Instead, Huckabee is left to fight an uphill battle, simply because, as Richard Land puts it, “nobody thinks he can beat Hillary, and fear of another Clinton White House outweighs almost everything.” In reference to this fact, Jonathan Martin of politico.com asks an interesting question,

“But do prominent Christian conservative leaders ensure that outcome when, instead of supporting one of their own and shepherding others to support him, they hold out for a better option or settle for an imperfect — if ostensibly more electable — candidate? ‘They all say Mike Huckabee is a great guy — and then they say he can’t win,’ laments campaign manager John “Chip” Saltsman, explaining what inevitably happens when Huckabee meets with top leaders of the religious right. ‘ ‘If you get traction, come back to us,’ ‘ Saltsman recounts them as saying, to which Huckabee, in his typically lighthearted manner, replies, ‘Guys, you are my traction.’”

This is what so often turns my stomach about Christians’ involvement in politics. We conservative evangelicals complain that we don’t have a president who really supports our values, but then when a candidate comes along who does, we won’t support him because “he can’t win.” Go figure. Maybe, just maybe, it’s because there’s not enough of us with the intestinal fortitude to back him.