Huc. . . KABOOM!
Vol: 75 Issue: 18 Tuesday, December 18, 2007
I was right when I said I thought Mike Huckabee s candidacy would be one worth watching.
It isn t often that you get to see a candidate take off like a rocket and once the trajectory is just perfect, push the self-destruct button like Huck did.
I was only four years old when Dwight Eisenhower ran for a second term against challenger Adlai Stevenson. Fifty years later, I can still remember the campaign slogan, I like Ike! I thought it was a cool name.
So is Huck but he ll need more than snappy answers and a cool nickname Ike also had the title of Supreme Commander of Allied Forces in Europe on his resume.
Huck was governor of Arkansas, is from Bill Clinton’s home town, used to be a Baptist preacher and he went on a diet and lost a hundred pounds. He s been interesting to watch.
I like Mike Huckabee. I like his personality, his way with a joke, his willingness to laugh at himself he probably made a terrific pastor.
But Huckabee isn t running for pastor, he s running for president. And THAT is where he lost me and where I predict he will suffer his HucKABOOM.
Governor Huckabee s latest campaign commercial is a Christmas card of sorts to voters, and it didn t take long for the cynics to notice the subliminal cross formed by a bookcase or windowframe behind him.
As the camera pans around, Huckabee s head slowly eclipses the cross in the background. The intended message was clearly, a vote for me is a vote for the Cross.
That it was intentional is beyond question. As to it being a subliminal message, it wasn t.
So why bother to conceal it at all? Why not just hang a real cross behind him? After all, it IS a Christmas greeting.
Well, Mike Huckabee can t come right out and SAY a vote for me is a vote for the Cross because some people might consider that a cynical use of the Lord of Creation and the Savior of mankind as a crass political campaign tool.
(Including yours truly.)
It appears that the Huckabee campaign, recalling that George Bush got the nomination in 2000 after naming Jesus Christ as the world s most important philosopher, has decided to enlist Jesus Christ as a campaign worker and make religion the centerpiece of his campaign.
For Huck, that presents more of a problem that I think his campaign realizes.
If Huck plans to wave the banner of Christ over his campaign, then that is the standard against which his campaign deserves to be judged.
Jesus Christ was the living embodiment of truth. He spoke the truth boldly, and lived according to the Word He spoke.
He didn t waffle, He didn t set out nuanced positions, His doctrine was absolute and unchanging, and His mission was to offer Himself as a sacrifice for the salvation of mankind.
That is a pretty tough standard for an American politician to set for himself. Bush made that mistake.
It came back to bite him the first time he pronounced Allah to be another name for God, and has dogged his every step since.
Assessment:
Huck s Christmas card has temporarily diverted attention away from his politics, which was no doubt his intention.
Huck recently wrote an article for Council on Foreign Relations magazine, Foreign Affairs.
In it, he slammed America as arrogant and dominating, writing, if it is generous in helping others, it is loved. But if it attempts to dominate others, it is despised. . . American foreign policy needs to change its tone and attitude, open up, and reach out. The Bush administration’s arrogant bunker mentality has been counterproductive at home and abroad.”
(Who knew that Jesus was a closet Democrat?)
American forces aren t fighting in Iraq to dominate but to liberate .
Colin Powell (hardly a conservative) once responded to the charge of American expansionism by pointing out that America never claimed any more territory in war than was necessary to bury its dead.
The Bush administration s bunker mentality was the result of a sneak attack on US soil more costly in US lives than the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor.
What would Huckabee do? I said Huckabee’s campaign would be worth watching. And it is — for all the wrong reasons.
My administration will recognize that the United States’ main fight today does not pit us against the world but pits the world against the terrorists.
Who is Huckabee trying to pit against whom with these comments? Jesus Christ was not a Marxist.
One of the pillars of Marxist political theory is that of class warfare. Marx pitted the bourgeoisie (ruling class) against the proletariat (working class).
The key to Marxist theory was to use domestic conflict as a springboard to political power.
Karl Marx would have been proud of the American Left for proving the efficacy of his theory.
Listen to the Democrats and notice how many times they use the word fight in their speeches, or how many times they invoke class warfare ( no tax cuts for the rich ); ( two Americas, one for the rich, and other for the rest of us ).
Huckabee is employing the same tactics. Many Republicans are calling Huck s words a betrayal of the Republican Party or a betrayal of President Bush.
What about a betrayal of the sitting government of the United States?
We ve come to expect it from the Democrats. But none of the Democrats are campaigning under the banner of Jesus Christ.
Omegaletter 