Once again, You Know Who is injecting religion into presidential politics on the stump:
The Scripture tells us that when Joshua and the Israelites arrived at the gates of Jericho, they could not enter. The walls of the city were too steep for any one person to climb; too strong to be taken down with brute force. And so they sat for days, unable to pass on through.But God had a plan for his people. He told them to stand together and march together around the city, and on the seventh day he told them that when they heard the sound of the ram’s horn, they should speak with one voice. And at the chosen hour, when the horn sounded and a chorus of voices cried out together, the mighty walls of Jericho came tumbling down.
There are many lessons to take from this passage...
Actually, this wasn't a Mike Huckabee speech, but the opening of Barack Obama's address at the Ebenezer Baptist Church this morning. It was a powerful speech (Andrew has the full text). I've got no problem at all with Obama using Biblical rhetoric here. It was appropriate. But I await those who freak out over Mike Huckabee talking about God stuff on the campaign trail to honor their principles and let Barack Obama have it too. Surely they won't tolerate a double standard, right?
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Jeff Feagles: "Can you give me a single cite of the president saying "God told me to invade Iraq"? Something that isn't hearsay?"
Well, the remark is quite consistent with other claims Bush has made (and hasn't refuted afterwards).
- In an interview with USA Today (2APR2003) Commerce Secretary Don Evans said that President Bush believes he was called by God to lead the nation at this time.
- A quote from a NY Times story of 17OCT2004 has former Reagan advisor Bruce Bartlett saying that Bush believes he is on a mission from God.
- At the 2004 GOP convention, Governor Pataki introduced President Bush, saying that he was "one of those men God and fate somehow lead to the fore in times of challenge."
- James Robison, quoted by Stephen Mansfield in "The Faith of George W. Bush, said that the President told him, "I've heard the call. I believe God wants me to run for President."
- In the same book Richard Land of the Southern Baptist Convention said that Bush told him in a meeting, "I believe that God wants me to be president, but if that doesn't happen, it's OK."
- World Magazine quoted Tim Goeglein, called a White House Official, as saying, "I think President Bush is God's man at this hour, and I say this with a great sense of humility."
- Bob Woodward in his book "Plan of Attack" quoted President Bush's answer to a question of whether he consulted with his father, former President George H.W. Bush, before going to war with Iraq. George W. answered, "There is a higher father that I appeal to."
None of these statements have been refuted. As to the remarks made in the 2003 meeting with Arab officials, three of them in separate interviews on separate dates said that Bush's words were that God led him to invade Afghanistan and Iraq.
Are not these words in line with someone who believes that he had a mission from God or that God called him to be President?
President Bush, through his press secretary, denied he said this. But then this is the same President who told us that Iraq was an imminent threat, that there were weapons of mass destruction, and that he would fire anyone involved in the Plame scandal.
Jeff Feagles: "This lie is something people use to mock his faith. Much like you are attempting to do in your response to me."
Mock his faith? Jeff, if we somehow ended up with a Muslim President and he came to the public saying that Allah had told him to invade...Israel, would you accept it? Would you mock his faith and suggest that it wasn't really Allah or God speaking?
Jeff, do you really want a President who believes he is led by someone or something who speaks only to him?
Quoting the apt words of Andrew Carnegie, "As I grow older I pay less attention to what men say. I just watch what they do,"
I find it much less significant that Bush continues to claim he was placed in office by God or is being led by God than I am that people continue to focus on his fantasical claims rather than look at the disappointment of his presidency.
Placing God in one's presidential campaign or term of office appears, so it seems, to make good business sense in a country where somewhere around 80% of the population claims to hold a belief in the Christian God. So, too, it absolves the "follower" of any wrong doing in the matter if the actions are "ordained" by God.
So, what we cannot do is listen to a man quoting scripture and know that man based on his words. For if GWB's quote "There is a higher father that I appeal to" upsets the public than the follow quotes could inflame a nation...
A man relying on God for a nation's welfare?
"Nevertheless, amid the greatest difficulties of my Administration, when I could not see any other resort, I would place my whole reliance on God, knowing that all would go well, and that He would decide for the right."
Advancing political direction on God's will?
"Relying, as I do, upon the Almighty Power, and encouraged as I am by these resolutions which you have just read, with the support which I receive from Christian men, I shall not hesitate to use all the means at my control to secure the termination of this rebellion, and will hope for success.
Believing God directed his election to the presidency?
"While I am deeply sensible to the high compliment of a re-election; and duly grateful, as I trust, to Almighty God for having directed my countrymen to a right conclusion, as I think, for their own good, it adds nothing to my satisfaction that any other man may be disappointed or pained by the result."
The difference, of course, is that one man stands as one of the greatest leaders our nation has ever known, while the other....
Presided over the loss of approximately three million American jobs in his first two-and-a-half years in office, the worst record since Herbert Hoover AND cut unemployment benefits for more out of work Americans than any president in U.S. history,
Set the all-time record for biggest annual budget spending increases,
Spent the surplus and bankrupted the treasury,
Shattered record for biggest annual deficit in history,
Set economic record for most private bankruptcies (and foreclosures) filed in any 12-month period,
Presided over the biggest energy crises in U.S. history,
Presided over the highest gasoline prices in U.S. history,
Attempted a presidential order to block presidential records from public access,
Signed more laws and executive orders amending the Constitution than any president in U.S. history,
Removed more civil liberties for Americans than any other president in U.S. history.
And the list goes on......
As a religious liberal, I have no problem with either Huckabee's or Obama's religious rhetoric (so far). Before George W. Bush, I would have had no problem with anybody's religious rhetoric. But, it appears to me that President Bush used perceived Divine guidance as a substitute for rational decision making, looking at available facts/data, and planning for all contingencies. (Example: the failure to plan for the occupation of Iraq- "no need to plan, God has it all arranged").
I believe it's dangerous and irresponsible for a president to depend on his (or her) personal miracle and use that as an excuse to skip analysis and planning.
It's very clear that Obama is very analytical, and that he uses his faith to point the way, not as a substitute for thinking. I'm not equally sure about Huckabee. (For example, he has threatened military action against Iran but had never heard of the National Intelligence Estimate that indicated they may have supended their nuclear program.)
Timothy,
"Huck can't change the constitution."
But he says he WANTS to, that it SHOULD be changed. Ergo our belief that he is unfit for office.
"Some here seem to think he can pray and the words will form like God's finger writing on the 10 commandments or something. Nope. He speaks his opinion, but he can't change the constitution, so this all seems like a really, big, non-issue."
It isn't a "non-issue" to his "base". do you not hear the ringing applause whenever he says he would change it to align with his beliefs??? And it is THAT which scares people.
"I think the simple truth is that no one freaks out over Obama's use of Scripture because it's widely recognized that he quite likely doesn't believe a word of it."
My what a mean-spirited thing to say.
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