A few weeks ago, former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee seemed poised to ride a wave of evangelical fervor to the Republican nomination. It wasn?t until after a revealing campaign stop in Myrtle Beach, S.C., that I began to take a closer, more critical look at Mr. Huckabee. And what I saw was at once humorous and scary: a witty, homophobic, quasi-racist opportunist who ? even more than your average Republican presidential candidate ? was sorely out of touch with mainstream American thought.
Mr. Huckabee?s Southern Baptist preacher style of delivery made him my favorite Republican to listen to in a debate. It was Mr. Huckabee who, of all the Republicans, scored the most points with me after he admitted Barack Obama?s message of change may be something the Republican Party should look into.
A Republican who would say such things about a Democrat appealed to my appreciation for balance and nonpartisanship. At one point during a debate, I turned to my family and insisted, ?This man needs to be the Republican nominee.?
My opinion now: not so much.
In the early primary state of South Carolina, Mr. Huckabee made a misstep that may have helped him among a few bigots in South Carolina, but cost him among many potential supporters elsewhere. Campaigning in Myrtle Bearch, Mr. Huckabee, according to CNN, insisted that South Carolinians ?don’t like people from outside the state telling you what to do with your flag.? Perhaps inspired by the ferocity of sidekick Chuck Norris, Mr. Huckabee went on to opine that, ?if somebody came to Arkansas and told us what to do with our flag, we’d tell them where to put the pole.?
As a Christian, an American and an African-American, I was appalled by Mr. Huckabee?s attempt to cater to the crowd. A former minister giving a wink and a nod to South Carolinians who wish to insert a flagpole into any offending American?s hindquarters who so happens to suggest that flying the Confederate flag is wrong? I know Christ turned a few tables over in the temple, but I doubt flagpole rectal penetration was something our savior would sign off on.
No presidential candidate of the United States should endorse officially flying a flag that represents not only slavery and racism, but also the desire and intention to do away with the unity of the nation. While it is well within an individual?s right to fly any flag, a state should surely refrain from invoking the legacy of the Confederate cause. The governor, however, failed to stipulate such a distinction.
Mr. Huckabee has also expressed a strong desire to amend the Constitution to reflect ?God?s standards.? Mr. Huckabee would be hard pressed to define satisfactorily what ?God?s standards? are to every Christian. Would this new Constitution provide for punishment in the case of premarital or extramarital sex?
While I ask that my leaders? decisions be somehow informed by a reverence for the Almighty, I?d be afraid to allow a man?s interpretation of God?s will to run roughshod over America?s Constitution.
And if this weren?t enough, Mr. Huckabee?s continual parading of actor/martial artist cum laude Chuck Norris in what can only be called an incredibly prolonged publicity stunt is much like the recent spate of jokes in which the actor now stars as punch line: funny, yet increasingly tired.
Mr. Huckabee, always the jokester, further sought to appeal to South Carolinian voters in particular by asking comedian/actor/popular TV show host Stephen Colbert to be his running mate. Funny, and cute, Mike, and I love watching the clip on YouTube, but it just doesn?t seem too presidential to offer the vice presidency to a man like Mr. Colbert, despite his wit.
The governor certainly didn?t intend for voters to take such antics seriously. They didn?t. It may be that voters began to see Mr. Huckabee?s campaign as a joke. A joke with terrible implications for the homosexual community, a lifestyle he has now famously compared to bestiality.
The way things appear, we will most likely not have to worry about a Huckabee presidency. Voters in Florida and later states stand poised to jettison his unique style of politics about as effectively as any Chuck Norris roundhouse kick. Good riddance, I?ll say, and take your overdone Norris jokes with you.
Gerald Cox ([email protected]) is a senior majoring in economics.
