John McCain, who has always said he was Episcopalian, now says he is a Baptist and has attended an Arizona Baptist Church for 15+ years. Strange thing is, though, he said he doesn't need to be baptized because "[he] didn't find it necessary to do so for [his] spiritual needs." McCain added "I've done that hundreds of times," when speaking about making a public profession of faith...even saying he has spoken at length with his pastor at the North Phoenix Baptist Church and has been told there is no need for him to be baptized to be a full member of the church.

Question, would the timing and location play any part in this? With the recent troubles Fred Thompson has had with the subject of church and John McCain being in South Carolina, one must wonder how politically motivated this is.

Substance, Style and History…Similar Paths, Similar Results? Only Time Will Tell. 

 

     For America, 1980 became a time of rebirth through the rise of Ronald Reagan. Reagan was a man that went from humble beginnings to become Governor of California and eventually President of the United States.  As they say, “a Story that movies are made of.” Ironically about a man who once made movies, it was a magical time.

     Ronald Reagan grew up in the small Middle American town of Dixon, Illinois. It was a humble life for “Dutch,” the son of Jack and Nellie Reagan. That life was endearing to Reagan, saying once “all of us have a place to go back to and Dixon was that place for me.”

     Reagan, who worked his way through college, would use his wonderful gift to communicate to land jobs in radio and acting. It was his natural leadership skills that helped him become President of the Screen Actors Guild in 1941.  He would travel the country speaking on behalf of General Electric, connecting with his audiences and building his future for politics.

     That gift of being able connect with the people, and his natural ability to lead, would make him a perfect fit for politics. He didn’t seek to become a politician, politics sought him. In 1966, he became a Republican Governor in a democratically controlled state.  The same traits that led to being Governor would ultimately be the key to becoming President of the United States.

     Nearly 30 years later, a new story with a different twist could spur some of that same Magic. At least, that’s what Mike Huckabee hopes will happen…history repeating itself. Many do not know it, but the parallels between Ronald Reagan and Mike Huckabee are quite similar.

     Huckabee, like Reagan, grew up with humble beginnings. Like Dixon, Hope, Arkansas is a small Middle American city. He has said he wishes everyone could grow up like he did. Hard work led to him becoming the first male in his family to graduate from High School and later college. Leadership was also in his blood, being elected by his peers as Governor of Arkansas Boys State as a kid. Radio, as it did with Reagan, captured his attention at an early age, saying “my job at the local radio station as a teenager led me to believe that I would have a career in some form of broadcasting or communications." [i]  He was right on both accounts.

 

     His gift of communication and ability to reach people was something Huckabee would use as a Baptist Minister. “A church in Pine Bluff, Arkansas, asked me to come and speak…because they were without a Pastor,” says Huckabee in his book From Hope to Higher Ground. “Following that Sunday, they asked me if I could come to speak for a week-long series of services." He would become their interim pastor while the search for a replacement took place. “Three months later, they asked me to remove the interim label and I spent six of the most wonderful years of my life as pastor of the Immanuel Baptist Church." [ii]

 

     Being a pastor provided him with challenges and views of life not many people get to see. “I was in the I.C.U. at 2:00 a.m. with families who faced the decision to disconnect a respirator on their loved one,” says Huckabee. “I counseled fifteen-year-old pregnant girls who were afraid to tell their parents about their condition." [iii]

 

     It’s these experiences that really help better explain the passion you hear in his voice when he talks about the importance of life and how it lead him to becoming politically active. “I didn’t become pro-life because of my politics,” Huckabee said, “I became political because of my political convictions. This is an issue [being pro-life] to me that is definitive to our culture. What has made this country unique, separate, and distinguishable is our value, our celebration and our elevation of human life...that the life of one is as important as the life of all. When we quit believing that, we really do lose not just the abortion issue, we lose the heart and soul of what’s made us a nation that has been respected and revered. One that has given us our strength through the centuries." [iv]

 

     Many want to find “The Next Ronald Reagan,” and although their paths to the White House are quite similar, Mike Huckabee is not Ronald Reagan. That's because no one is. No one deserves that status. Nor does Ronald Reagan deserve to have his status lowered when we think anyone can come along and be “The Next Ronald Reagan.”

 

     That being said, we shouldn’t stop trying to find that someone who seeks the Presidency out of principle instead of its position. We must find a candidate of character, not of convenience. We all have our barometer, our own yard stick for determining our choice in 2008.  Mike Huckabee is a man who likes to say leadership is not the thermometer that reads how hot or cold it is but the thermostat that controls the temperature.

 

     He, like Reagan, has certainly turned up the heat on Presidential Politics. Only time will tell if his journey ends as it did for “The Gipper” back in 1980.  My prayers are it does.

[i] Page 4 of “From Hope to Higher Ground,” by Mike Huckabee.

[ii] Page 4 of “From Hope to Higher Ground,” by Mike Huckabee.

[iii] Page 6 of “From Hope to Higher Ground,” by Mike Huckabee.

[iv] Interview on “The Scott Wilder Show,” KWRD 100.7 FM, June 15, 2007