Huckabee's Faith "Lens"

Mike Huckabee is the "Christian candidate." He made that clear in his "Christian leader" ad and later in his video Christmas card, which called on America to to get on board with the "reason for the season" -- the birth of our lord. Mike is a bright and charismatic guy. I think he probably was a pretty lively preacher and he seems to be a true "compassionate conservative," something George Bush pledged to be but never delivered on. Now, I believe that one's faith can and should influence our political views and actions. It can and should give moral foundation (as long as it doesn't verge into dogmatism and self-righteousness). The question is, can it be a hindrance to good governance?

Well it can if it so hardens a persons position that he or she is unable to see things differently. You believe you're right because it seems true to you faith position, and therefore any other way must be wrong. It is black and white, either/0r.

With this in mind I came across a front page LA Times story about Huckabee's days as governor. There was one incident that while in a sense harmless, gives us a window into how he might govern.

It goes like this -- a tornado hit Arkansas, devastating the city of Arkadelphia (the location of his alma mater). The legislature passed a bill that would make sure that insurance companies couldn't wiggle out of their obligations. In this brief piece of legislation that received overwhelming "bi-partisan" support, the legislators used that old term "act of God" to describe what happened. Now, i don't believe that a tornado is an act of God, but that is standard insurance language. Well Rev. Mike objected to the use of the phrase and held up the legislation for 3 weeks. In the end they used the language "natural causes," but the point was the fact that he got caught up in the minutiae of language that could have delayed services (which in this case didn't).

One thing that stood out in this article was a statement about Huckabee's "pettiness." Apparently he had a tendency to turn minor issues into big ones.

" 'Petty' is the best word to describe him," said Dennis R. Young, a state representative at the time who sponsored the relief measure and had been an early Huckabee supporter. "In these kinds of things, he'd make mountains out of molehills."

Presidents need to be above such pettiness (though GW has shown his own penchant for pettiness). In times of crisis one can't get caught up in "language." And if a person gets hung up on that phrase what will he do with foreseeable crises in the middle east and elsewhere?

At the end of the day, I think Mike is a nice guy, a good Christian conservative who has shown an ability to be compassionate, but there are other signs that should bother us as we look at electing a President. Now I admit every candidate has stumbled and every candidate has his or her (yes we can say that) blindspots and weaknesses. But I do think this is something needing to be considered in Huckabee's case. Is his faith actually a handicap?