2008 Election… Why actions should trump character
It must be hard running for president- you have to appeal to so many different people, and each of them are looking for you to be something different. “Are you a christian?” “Will you affirm this law I like?” “Do you support my special interest group?” People talk about what values the president should have, but what they are really saying is “I want my new president to think and do like I would.” In other words, the president has to have OUR values, or none at all.
God forbid a presidential candidate speak their mind or have their own views on things. Or god forbid they talk about what they are going to do as president or what kind of plan they have. We seem as a country to care way more about which intern our president slept with rather then what actually happened while they were president.
I know people really want to have the world look on our president as some kind of moral and spiritual leader. But if you are a christian (and I am), you would know that the whole reason we need a savior is because people are foulable. We sin and make mistakes. Trying to put a person up on some kind of moral pedestal or “guiding light” is not only pointless, completely doomed to failure. That person WILL screw up something, because they are human. It’s how we are made.
So in my opinion, values should be a distant second to results. To me, electing a president is like hiring a man to do a job. How well will this person do the job? When you hire someone, you don’t ask them what their family life is like at home. You don’t ask them what religion they practice or if they support gay marriage. You look at their record and you find out if they can do the job.
For example, why does it matter to people if Obama is a Muslim or not? Will that somehow stop him from being a good president? Will he make poor decisions because he believes in the wrong religion? What happened to FREEDOM of religion anyway? Are we back in the 60s when intollorance was the norm? Have we learned nothing from history?
I don’t try to tell anyone who to vote for. It’s not my decision, it’s someone elses, and they have a right to make it. But let me at least offer a simple question. Are people actually better or worse off since Bush became president? Have the ideals and decisions Bush and the people around him have made and lifted up made things better or worse? McCain very closely follows Bush and what decisions he have made. So if you’ve like the way things have gone, vote for McCain. I won’t stop you. All I ask is you not be blinded. If you think a president has to share your idiology to govern, then you are letting your beliefs cloud what has actually happened over the course of the last 8 years.
Update: Obama got elected, thank God. But he still has a lot of work to do… let’s hope he picked some wise advisors to help him.
