A New Spiritual Mentor for Obama
I sort of heard through the grapevine that Barack Obama might be in the market for a new spiritual mentor.
Maybe Obama would benefit a lot from giving Governor and former Pastor Mike Huckabee a call.
Mike doesn't have a church anymore, since he left the ministry long ago to become a state Governor for 10 1/2 years. But he's still very spiritual. And Barack might really benefit from a chat with him.
On the one hand, Huckabee seems to care more about Obama as a person today than his former Pastor, Jeremiah Wright, does. Obama's old mentor doesn't seem to like him very much. On the other hand, Huckabee has always been complimentary of Obama even though they have very different ideas on politics and policies.
Wright seems to be doing everything he can to nuke Obama's campaign and to introduce racism into a conversation where race previously hadn't been an issue. On the other hand, when Obama was at his lowest and most vulnerable point following the disclosure of the initial set of Wright's garbage rants, Huckabee took the high road and played peacemaker. While condemning the remarks themselves, the former Governor did not use the situation as an opportunity to pile on. And while not justifying Wright in any way, he encouraged people to try to understand the world from which he came, which is a world that Huckabee himself has some understanding of.
And it seems clear that Jeremiah Wright was spending so much time talking about conspiracy theories and America's wrongs that he might not have had time to talk about, you know, spiritual things. I'm betting Wright may not have spent that much time talking with Obama about the usual spiritual mentor topics ... God, the Bible, and things like that. Huckabee would make a much better mentor in this regard and can talk about both spiritual things and social issues at the same time. And Huck can do this without insulting anyone and without the need for prime-time coverage for himself.
And maybe while they're talking, Mike can share his perspective on Jeremiah 1:5 ("Before I formed you in the womb I knew you ...") or Psalm 139:13 ("you knit me together in my mother's womb"). Since Obama is so respectful of people who disagree with him on abortion, maybe this conversation will help him to rethink his "judgement" on the topic. After all, many more Americans have died as the result of abortion than in Iraq. And of all the things Wright has mentioned as being harmful to black people, abortion is hurting us more.
Huckabee can even give Obama some political advice on some practical matters, such as holding a multi-racial and cross-spectrum coalition together in places where it can be hard to form them. You see, Huckabee earned the support of 48% of African American voters in Arkansas - unheard of for a white republican in the very heart of Clinton country. Also, since Huckabee knows quite a bit about balancing budgets and about helping the people to be healthier and have better schools - all without taxing people to death - he might be willing to share his notes on this as well.
Obama needs change in the type of people who give him spiritual advice. He seems open to having a conversation that crosses the traditional political, racial and geographic boundaries. And since he has an opening for a new spiritual mentor, he could learn a lot from taking some advice from a man from Hope who has shown him a lot more kindness and courtesy than the other man from Hope (or others who are on "his side"). This guy is definitely conservative, but, unlike Wright, he isn't mad about it or about anything else. He's already been fully vetted. He has a lot of experience as a Pastor and has a lot of good advice to offer. The new guy doesn't act as if he thinks the whole world revolves around him. And he doesn't throw anyone under the bus.
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