As I browse through many social networking sites, I find myself taken back to 1992 when I was stationed at RAF Bentwaters in England. It was during this time when the presidential election had occurred and Mr. Bill Clinton had won. I must tell you that I am both socially and fiscally conservative meaning that I support policies that are both socially and economically conservative. As I have stated many times in the past, my measuring stick on what is right and wrong is the Bible. In fact I use the King James Bible as my source. During the 1992 presidential election I saw some traits about Bill Clinton that really bothered me. I saw him as both a social and fiscal liberal. It was his first act in office that confirmed my suspicion when he removed the restriction on the government paying for abortion at military facilities. He instituted the “Don’t ask, Don’t tell” policy in the military relating to homosexuality in the military. This policy was a compromise though he wanted open homosexuality in the military.
These were just a few examples of my distrust of the man. My opposition to him was more socially than economic. Again, I thought he was catering to the extreme left in this country and forcing policies on the country that were not welcome except in the most liberal areas of our country. I spent eight years being angry at Bill Clinton. I genuinely hated him for his stand on issues. Many Christian friends of mine would point out to me that we are to pray for our leaders and not bad mouth them as I was doing. This only made me more angry that my own group was piling on me or so I thought. It was not until later after he left office that I realized they were right. I was so angry and full of discontent with his leadership and hostility to everything I believed that I could not even be rational. They were right in that I was wrong to hate him.
I spent eight years being angry when it was unnecessary. This was followed up by the presidency of George W. Bush. I voted for him twice and I must admit that I have been disappointed by him. My disappointment is for just the opposite reasons the media dislikes him. My problem with him is that he is not conservative enough. I was involved in electing the Republican revolution in 1994 when they promised many conservative agendas. They promised the “contract with America” with several policies they intended to pass in the first 100 days of Republican controlled Congress. The media came after them with full force. They called the agenda the “contract ON America” and successfully intimidated the Republican Senators and Representatives. They went after the then Speaker of the House, Newt Gingrich labeling him as a right wing extremist. Since many in our country listen to the news media and actually believe they are neutral and have no agendas this tactic worked.
Despite having control of both houses of Congress, the Republicans were useless. They cowered to the media fearing they too would be attacked. What the Republicans failed to see was that whatever they do, it will always be painted as right wing extremism by the media. They have taken the road of appeasement as opposed to getting anything conservative done. With each election our Republican leaders have failed to deliver on promises to their conservative constituents. They have promised the world and delivered nothing. Their appeasement has worked in keeping their jobs though many in the conservative movement have reached the end of our trust of them.
John McCain was chief among these Republicans that turned on us while being a Senator. Time after time he voted on key issues with the Democrats. The media gave him the name “Maverick” and he wore it like a badge of honor. I truly believe that to this day John McCain still fails to see where he went wrong. He was elected, and reelected over and over again and turned his back on his constituents. John McCain has earned the title RINO which stands for Republican in name only by many conservatives. As time went on conservatives were left with no one to vote for. There are many like myself that are tired of voting for the lesser of the two evils. I have reached the point that I will not vote for someone just so the other candidate will not win. I think it was time for our side to lose big so they will be reminded that they do have a constituency that they owe. They will either back their constituency or not be reelected.
Along comes the 2008 election where Barack Obama wins the election. I have mixed feelings with him. There are many problems that I have with him and one of them is his mixed signals when it comes to his profession of Christianity. He claims Christianity but then back peddles when asked to clarify that he is born again or even believes Jesus’ statement that he is the way, the truth, and the life and that there is no way to get to God except through him. Another is the unwavering support for his preacher Mr. Wright that is clearly racist and preaches racism in his own church. Many times Mr. Obama claimed that he went to this church for 20 years and never had a problem. Only when the heat was applied during the campaign when several unflattering videos of Mr. Wright appeared on Youtube did Obama retract that support. It is my belief that this retraction was not genuine and Barack Obama does have the same racist beliefs as Mr. Wright. It is hard for me to imagine going to a church that preached this message for more than 20 years and continuing to go if a person did not believe it.
Putting all this aside and taking the advice of my Christian friends who earlier told me to pray for our leaders I would like to say that I am willing to give Barack Obama a chance. I am actually happy that we can say we have our first black presidents though I have extremely powerful reservation on his stand on issues. I refuse to spend the next eight years being angry like I did in 1992. I really believe God is in control and that Barack Obama can possibly be a good president with our prayers. I am tired of playing all the political games. I am tired of all the divisiveness and hate. I choose to be happy and I encourage those conservative friends around me to do the same. God is bigger than the situation and to deny that is denying his ability to reign. After all, if you think about it, if John McCain would have won, you would have more of the same lip service while turning his back on us. This election would have been another disappointment with John McCain in office as well.
This reminds me of a Veggy Tales episode that I saw when my kids were young. Veggy Tales is a Christian cartoon where talking vegetables often told a moral story illustration God’s love and power. There was an episode where one of the characters was scared of the “boogey man”. The group sang a song “God is bigger than the boogey man”. After all these years that kids show has stuck with me. I am actually singing it inside 
. The message of that song was so simple and is still true to this day. I am not calling Barack Obama the boogey man by any means. I do not see him as a bad man but rather a man with differing moral views than I have. Nevertheless I believe with God in control, he can be a good leader. I fully expect a lot of heat over my stand and that is fine with me. I think having faith in God is way more important than being angry and ruining my family life. The Bible said in Hebrews 11:6…
But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.
Do you believe it? I do!