Mike Huckabee talked to the Pew Forum about “the fate of social conservatives and how he sees religion playing out in 2008 and beyond.”
He also talked about “how he has witnessed religion impacting public affairs in his roles as a pastor and governor, and how his own faith guides his public life.”
No, he did not just talk about religion: he also talked about other issues such as the nature of the political debate in America, foreign policy, health care, etc.
I encourage all of you to read the transcript. It provides for quite an interesting read. The moderator of the discussion: EJ Dionne Jr.
When reading the transcript I concluded a couple of things: he knows what he’s talking about, he’s serious, but he also has a good sense of humor. For instance:
There are some interesting points of opposition that I faced along the way. I love to tell the story of the lady who asked me in my early political life if it was true that I was a Baptist minister, and I said, “Yes, ma’am, that is true.” She said, “Well, let me ask you, are you one of those narrow-minded Baptists who think only Baptists go to heaven?” I said, “No, ma’am, actually I’m more narrow than that; I don’t think all of the Baptists are going to make it.”
He said something quite interesting about Republicans and African-Americans:
I think one of the milestones that I celebrate, not so much in terms of programs – perhaps we’ll talk about that later – but politically, was that in 1998, I received 49 percent of the African-American vote. It’s one of the things for which I am most grateful because I think sometimes people assume that Republicans can’t win that vote. I have said for a long time that Republicans have made a huge mistake by not understanding that they can win African-American votes, and they should do everything possible to try. I also believe that we Republicans have to make sure that we communicate the message that resonates down to people of all levels of the economic spectrum. Frankly, we have not done that very well, and as a result, we have had some struggles. I think part of the reason for the 2006 disasters was that we didn’t do that.
I agree completely with that. The Republicans have just about handed over the African-American vote to the Democrats. The Democrats believe that there is not much they can do wrong in this regard – as far as I can tell, they consider the support of African-Americans to be logical, unquestionnable. If the Republican Party, however, would court African-Americans more actively, I am quite sure that it can win quite some of them over. Doing so, will, of course, be good for the African-American community in the US: if Republicans try to persuade African-Americans to vote for them, Democrats have to work harder to get the votes they’d normally get and that means that they’ll be willing to do more for this ‘group.’
About the debates Huckabee said:
A frustration of the debate process was that in three debates – California, South California and last night in New Hampshire – In those three debates with the Republican candidates, there was not a question about education, which I thought was unfortunate. There was only one question last night about health care. Very few questions – no questions last night – Think about this: Republicans were on a stage for two hours and not one question was asked about the tax system, taxes or economic development, which are typically cornerstones of Republican politics.
It was an unusual format and one that I think left many of us saying, my gosh, are we going to talk about some of the issues that people talk about at their dinner tables at night? Somebody asked me after the debate what I thought about the question I got on evolution. I said it was OK, but the truth is, I have been out there campaigning every day for quite some time and here is a reality: Not one person in America has asked me about evolution at a forum or town-hall discussion – nobody, not one. I get on national television twice, and I’m asked about it in California and I’m asked about it in New Hampshire. I’m happy to give my answer; it’s not that I’m ashamed or afraid to speak of it. But I’m thinking that all over America there were families sitting down to have dinner, and I doubt that any of them said, I wonder what the next president will think about evolution. I just don’t think that came out of the conversation.
I agree completely with that. When watching the debates, I found it to be quite frustrating to see that they did not spend a lot of time on issues such as health care, education, taxes, etc. as well (purely speaking as an observer here). It seems to me that these issues are far more important than whether the candidate believes in evolution, if so to what degree, etc.
About America being (politically) divided:
I also believe that I would bring to the general election an understanding that being a conservative is also about having a much broader agenda than the very narrowly focused one that sometimes conservatives are either accused of bringing or, frankly, can be guilty of bringing. Part of that is because if you’re a governor, you can’t afford the luxury of being an ideologue. You just can’t. You have to make things work. You have to not only balance budgets, but you have to be evaluated on how well your schools improve, whether your roads are getting better and how well you’ve taken care of things like state parks and the streams that people fish in. Those are real issues that affect people every day in their lives.
I hope I’m answering the question, E.J., in the spirit in which you intended. We have allowed politics in the country to become very divisive, and it’s almost like it’s an all or nothing proposition. I couldn’t have survived or passed any legislation in my state if I had gone in and said, “OK, guys, I’m a Republican governor. We’re going to have a Republican agenda. And so, here’s the Republican orthodoxy that I expect every one of you to vote for.”
Huckabee on foreign policy:
At the risk of oversimplifying the whole discussion, let me just express – Sometimes the one thing I like to do is to try to make it where I can understand and hopefully others can too – When we were all kids growing up in a neighborhood, chances are there was one kid in our neighborhood who was really good at everything: he made straight As, ran faster, jumped higher and threw the ball better. He was just good at everything. When that kid acted like it and spiked the ball at our feet, waved his A-plus in our faces and danced around us when he scored the touchdown, do you remember how you felt toward that kid?
[…]
Take the same neighborhood and the same gifted kid, but this time instead of the kid rubbing your face in it, the kid is very thoughtful. When he sees that you really did your best and didn’t make the A on the spelling test, he says, “Hey, why don’t I come over and I’ll help you learn your spelling words.” And when he sees you struggling to hit the baseball, he says, “If you choke up on the bat you get better leverage and you can hit better, here, hit like this, try it.” Now, when the kid uses his strengths and his abilities and he encourages you and helps you to be your best, now what’s your attitude toward that kid? You want to be like him; you emulate him. You want to hang out with him. He’s your hero.
Again a good point. America is the world’s superpower, everybody knows that, but it does not have to confirm this time and time again. One of the reasons many Europeans greatly dislike Bush is because of this arrogant attitude Huckabee described. “You’re either with us or against us,” for instance, is incredibly arrogant (and you’re a bully).
The BBC’s Katty Kay asked Governor Huckabee a very good question:
Do you understand, Governor, that when you say that your politics are driven by a Christian conservative faith – and it’s really picking up on what you were saying about the world’s opinion of America – that it might be a scary thought for many people around the world? And slightly related, there are some times, I think – a perception in many other countries that the social conservative – Christian conservative – movement in America is homogenous. Are there issues, though, on which you’re seeing fracturing? One issue I was thinking of as having movement was climate change.
Huckabee’s answer:
Oh, I think that’s true. One of the responsibilities that I have, as a person whose faith is certainly front and center – Again, a lot of it because of my vocational background – I have to assure people that because I have deep convictions, it means that I respect theirs even more. One of the things that I have to explain about what it really means to be a Christian is that it does not mean that I think that I’m better than other people. It means that I’ve accepted the fact that I’m not very good at all. That’s what it means to understand that as a sinner – that you’ve fallen short and failed in your own aspirations – one surely does not have the capacity to somehow elevate oneself to be better than others. It’s quite the opposite. It means that I know life is a struggle because it has been for me, and I know that I’m imperfect and that if it weren’t for God’s grace I couldn’t even live with myself much less expect other people to live with me.
KK: But it’s the Christian language of this presidency that has perpetuated some of the anti-American feelings around the world.
MH: It goes back to what I said earlier. There’s an important need for some real humility, and that’s not just language, that has to be spirit. You can say the words, but you have to have the spirit behind those words.
I think that many people in the world – especially Europe – get a bit uncomfortable when the president of the United States talks often about God, but Europe’s reaction would – indeed – be less negative, less nervous, if the president would speak about God in a more humble way, with more nuance and with obvious respect for those who might disagree.
This is a long post, I realize that, but I hoped you all found it an interesting read nonetheless.
Also be sure to check out the Governor’s website and the official blog.
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