The Waters Are Still Muddy
By Rob & Louisa Forrest
Americans are caught up in a political battle the likes of which this country has never seen or heard before. This is a campaign of historic proportions, with the stigmas of race, gender, and age being challenged and examined. But the reality is that this is a war between two political parties for the reins of power of the Oval Office.
As Christians, we are faced with the responsibility to exercise discernment as to what the Lord would have us do . . . to vote or not to vote, and if to vote, for whom? The Republicans have been the traditional standard-bearers for the 'Christian Right', but things are not so clear this time around. John McCain has had a historical lack of respect for the 'Christian Right'. The 'Christian Right' has held John McCain at arm's length, not willing to commit to a man with his personal failings. Fleeting liaisons with pastors Rod Parsley and John Hagee on the eve of their states' respective primaries raised more suspicions as to McCain's motives. To many Christians, the waters were muddy.
It was clear from the beginning that John McCain is uncomfortable talking about his Christian faith. When McCain shunned the Faith Forum in Pennsylvania last winter, his Democratic counterparts, Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton, attended and eagerly discussed their faith. Whenever John McCain did talk about his faith, he referred to the 'faith of his fathers' (the title of his book). This is a faith in honor, in America, and in America's military might. This is the faith McCain said he found as a POW in Vietnam. It was this faith that McCain brought to Rick Warren's faith forum. McCain deflected discussions of his personal Christian faith and deferred to the 'faith of his fathers'. But McCain did tell us one familiar story.
Last March, the Los Angeles Times published an article, "They Kept McCain Afloat" (March 7, 2008). The article recounted a history of the McCain campaign. Mark McKinnon, McCain's media advisor, put together a small campaign production company, Foxhole Productions. In the summer of 2007, the campaign was waning and funds were drying up. Then the campaign stumbled on a 'game-changer':
'"We were just operating on pennies," McKinnon said. Voters frequently told McCain that they were most moved by a spot McKinnon's team made about a compassionate North Vietnamese guard who tended to McCain as a prisoner of war. As McCain tells the story, the man silently reached out to him one Christmas by drawing a cross in the dirt outside McCain's cell.
McKinnon's crew struggled to replicate the story in 30 seconds. The producer found a stick, took the crew behind their editing studio and drew a cross in the dirt of the schoolyard next door. To McKinnon's surprise, "it was one of the most impactful we made."
The crowds slowly began to build, and by late fall money began trickling in'.
This summer, McCain pulled out that story again, and ran it by Rick Warren and his audience. The 'Christian Right' started to thaw. But still, it was clear that the story wasn't enough to turn the tide. It wasn't until John McCain added Alaska governor Sarah Palin to his ticket that the 'Christian Right' jumped on board the 'Straight Talk Express'.
Is this the discernment that we are to exercise or is this the exercise of hypocrisy? It's clear that the waters are still muddy.
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