Unlikely Candidates
It’s the eve of Primary Day in Ohio , as I write this.
It was so appropriate that, this past Sunday morning, we heard the story in 1 Samuel 16 about how Samuel came to Bethlehem (about 1000 years before Jesus was born there) looking for a new king for Israel . God had told him that the new king would be one of the sons of a man named Jesse.
Samuel looked up Jesse and invited Jesse to dinner and told him to bring all of his sons. As the boys came in, the first-born was a tall, good-looking, smart guy who looked like he would make a wonderful king. But God whispered in Samuel’s ear, “Don’t judge by appearances. I look at the heart.”
The second son also looked every inch a king, but God whispered the same words in Samuel’s ear.
The same for the third son, the fourth . . . right through number seven. But, God never gave the thumbs up to any of them.
Samuel asked Jesse if he had any more sons. Jesse said, “Yes, there’s the little one, David, but he’s out tending the sheep. You want to see him?”
Samuel said they wouldn’t start dinner without him, so they brought David in as fast as possible. Samuel looked at the boy and God said that this was the one God had chosen.
As I read this with campaign ads blaring in the background, I was struck by the fact that six months ago, we had a field full of presidential candidates, most of whom looked like all the other presidents we ever had: middle-aged white men. Even Dennis Kucinich, who used to be my congressman when I lived in his district, looks a little like James Madison complete with his own “Dolly”.
But now, in Ohio , we are down to three candidates: one of whom isn’t middle-aged, one who isn’t white, and one who isn’t a man.
I’d like to think – and I think a lot of Americans would like to think – that just maybe we are moving beyond appearances in choosing our leaders. After all, the President who most looked the part was probably Warren G. Harding. Except for some really die-hard party-loyalists, male chauvinists and racists, most of the people I know are pretty pleased with the way the field got narrowed down and could live with any of the final three who will finally be elected in November. That’s partly because most people sense that each of these candidates has a basic integrity – a good heart.
That’s not to say that any of them are perfect, and I am troubled by the demand that somehow a President should be perfect – or even consistent. We’ve got consistency now and I’m not running into a lot of people who are happy with the fact that, as Stephen Colbert says, “Our President believes the same thing on Wednesday that he did on Monday, no matter what happens on Tuesday.”
I don’t for a moment imagine that the general election campaign will be free of smears and dirty politics, but I am hopeful that for the first time in a long time, we’ll be able to vote for someone rather than against someone.
