A Savior on Capitol Hill?

If you needed further proof that I am *not* crunchy, here it is: I am a conservative. :) Well, technically I am unaffiliated with any party, but I lean more toward conservative ideologies. And while I'm certainly not skipping church to watch "Meet the Press" every Sunday, I am interested in political issues and figures and ideas. But here's the thing-- I don't really enjoy discussing politics; partly because it's a massively divisive topic... but mostly because most people know WAY more about it than me... which means that I leave the conversation without that nice little air of superior knowledge and awareness that is so very appealing to me.

But this is my blog. So division and ignorance aside, I feel I should be able to share my (perhaps uninformed) thoughts on the upcoming presidential election. In watching recent debates, I can absolutely understand why Barack Obama has such a magnetic pull for so many people. He is charismatic, well-spoken, intelligent, and not entirely horrible-looking. I *want* to like him. I want to believe that he can really produce the "change we need" in America. But what kind of change, exactly?


The other night, I was flipping through the pages of my Parents magazine. There was an article interviewing Barack and Michelle Obama and Cindy McCain (John must have been off consorting with Joe the Plumber or some other Average Joe Six-Pack :) ), and the question of faith and church attendance came up. Although the Obamas admitted that they are not attending church/Sunday school services regularly (I'm sure Jeremiah Wright is missing their tithes), Barack said they teach their children "about values and faith and religion in the context of family life." Michelle even added that they end their meal-time prayers with a toast and a family exclamation of "Cheerios!" (Evangelicals everywhere can breathe a sigh of relief-- the Obama children are being taught the Gospel...)

But you know, whatever... to each his own, right? But then I stumbled across this article: "Obama's Abortion Extremism", by Robert George. I always knew that Obama was pro-choice, didn't know the extent of what that meant. His voting record is staggering and sobering. Here are just a few of the things the article mentions:

--Obama supports legislation that would repeal the Hyde Amendment, which protects pro-life citizens from having to pay for medically unnecessary abortions.
--One of his top priorities as President would be to sign the Freedom of Choice Act. This would create a a federally guaranteed right to abortion throughout all nine months of pregnancy, and would virtually eliminate all the "red-tape" of legal abortions (parental consent, notification laws for minors, etc.)
--He opposes the ban on partial birth abortions; he even wants to strip federal funding from pro-life crisis pregnancy centers which offer alternatives to abortion.
--Obama opposes legislation that would protect children who are born alive, either as the result of a botched abortion or by the deliberate delivery of the baby prior to viability.
--He co-sponsored a bill that would authorize the large-scale industrial production of human embryos for use in biomedical research in which they would be killed.

There's much more; I encourage you to read the article for yourself. Disagree all that you want (remember, I said politics is divisive! :) but I just have a hard time understanding how a believer can stand behind a man who shows so little concern for "the least of these". I have been warned before not to err by "one issue voting". But come on-- I'm not talking about the economy here, folks. I'm not talking about global warming, or even how to defend our country against terrorism. I'm talking about children who are formed in the image of their Creator. This is a big deal. This is a really big deal.

I close with this quote, given in Obama's World AIDS Day speech... perhaps out of context, but interesting nonetheless...

"We should never forget that God granted us the power to reason so that we would do His work here on earth-- so that we would use science to cure disease, and heal the sick, and save lives." (emphasis mine)

Yes, we should never forget that.