By David Anderson, Tillicum
Comedian Groucho Marx quipped, “Those are my principles. If you don’t like them, I have others.”
a. Consulted with staff, openly gay and lesbian service members
b. Asked his wife and daughters
c. Hoped it would engender financial support for his re-election bid
e. Sought the advice of his spiritual advisor
f. All of the above
If you answered ‘f: All of the above’ you are almost right. Only ‘e’ is in error. He didn’t seek the Rev. Joel Hunter’s advice.
Hunter, who Obama calls his spiritual adviser, is pastor of the 15,000 member Northland church in Longwood, Florida. He said Obama called him before ABC News broadcast the announcement Wednesday.
“One of the reasons he was calling was to . . . give me a ‘heads up’ on an interview he had just done,” Hunter said, adding that the President said he had “prayed about it.”
Praying done, Obama and his aides are now passing the offering plate, hoping to fill it with cash, lots of it, in a fundraising gambit for his re-election campaign.
“Within hours of his interview in which he declared for the first time his support for gay marriage, Obama blasted out a fundraising email to supporters.”
Just one day from his heart-to-heart with a higher power, Obama will be preaching to a congregation of celebrities in Hollywood – “home to some of the most high-profile backers of gay marriage and the 150 donors who are paying $40,000 to attend (George) Clooney’s dinner”, featuring Obama.
It’s sold out – not a reference to the President but to the well-heeled guests who are expected to shell out $15 million – “an unprecedented amount for a single event. And it means that in one single evening the Obama camp and the Democratic Party will collect more than Romney has amassed in his best single month of fundraising.
“House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi on Thursday rejected any suggestion that the president was looking to use his announcement to raise campaign funds.
“‘I really dismiss the idea that this had anything to do with money, I really do,’ she said.”
Spare us Nancy. Hardly anyone else believes that.
At last check a whopping 75.7% of poll responders believed money trumped Obama’s piety as the primary motivator of his new-found evolutionary position. Only 3.1% believed that “his conscience was clawing at him, and he had a genuine change of heart.”
“By Wednesday evening, Obama had sent out a campaign email saying: ‘Today, I was asked a direct question and gave a direct answer: I believe that same-sex couples should be allowed to marry.’
“The email included a link for supporters to donate to the campaign.”
As many of you read this, Obama will be in Seattle “where he is expected to collect at least $3 million toward his re-election effort.”
Then it’s off to Hollywood, Reno, and New York fundraisers sponsored by gay supporters.
In an essay entitled “The Anatomy of Compromise”, the author writes: “The present state of our culture may be gauged by the extent to which principles have vanished from public discussion, reducing our cultural atmosphere to (a) . . . sordid, petty senselessness . . . while betraying all its major values, selling out its future for some spurious advantage of the moment . . . . (that) one must compromise with anybody on anything . . . and by panicky appeals to ‘practicality.’”
As this presidential political contest proceeds, principles – or lack thereof, certainly principles diametrically opposed – may well determine the outcome. A review of the essay on principles suggests that when two groups have not the same principles, “the more evil or more irrational entity will win. If principles are clearly defined and the groups hold opposite views, the more rational one will win. The more irrational one will win when the principles are hidden and not clearly defined.”
Certainly doesn’t say much for the culture that supports a candidate who principles appear to be in flux and suspiciously tied to fundraising junkets.
Neither is it commendatory to hear, as I had a conservative congressional candidate once tell me, that “sometimes, in order to get elected, you have to sacrifice your principles.”
He lost.
Dave, there has been nothing but hate from so called christians since Obama took office — code for racism frankly. Today’s christian voice is nothing but hate and nothing like Jesus. Boy, howdy will they be shocked on rapture day. If you believe in Jesus like you claim you are to simply love one another and stop your holier than thou continual judgment. Jesus himself said NOTHING about homosexuality. It humors me the pick and choose verses christians take from the old testament — gee, do you cut hands off those that rob you? Do you not allow a woman who is not a virgin to marry? Your faith is based on the new testament right? stick to that and love which is what Jesus is about. Try giving up hate for a change. It might open your heart. All of you full of hate would have nothing to do with the person Jesus was should he show up today, why? He was a liberal, he helped the poor. He helped the “unclean”. He hung out with those that were not up to your standards. He did not look “right”. Oh, and now you love a guy who is a member of a cult oh boy what lengths you idiots go to — just admit your prejudice — He knows your heart. Principles, yeah right you have them in spades, and christian marriages are so darn sacred these days — what with preachers having gay relations (and preaching against it) and having affairs. I think we should all just worry about our own backyard and just love one another, as Jesus said.
Right on, David! You have pointed out the obvious….having nothing to do with Christian beliefs but drawing attention to a candidate pandering to the national “gay community” to rake in millions of dollars toward the re-election of president Obama in November. Politicians have, and always will cater to special interest groups in their quest to become re-elected and the president…and vice-president Biden’s…. vocal support of homosexual marriages is a blatant example of this type of campaigning. Find a “hot button” issue and join the side of the debate that you figure has the best chance of providing the mega-funds needed to win and the Democratic party is well aware that California and it’s Hollywood financial influence is a soft touch for that kind of cash. I trust a future leader of this country will emerge to address the REAL problems facing the nation and leave the social disputes to the masses more concerned with them. Homosexuality should not be part of a political agenda in my estimation.
‘Hate’pretty catch-all word.
What is our President going to do when our Lord returns to earth and says I’m sorry, but you can not go to Heaven since you don’t want to follow the instructions given in the Bible?
“Is America bitterly divided? Has America lost its traditional values? Many politicians and religious leaders believe so, as do the majority of Americans, based on public opinion polls taken over the past several years. But is this crisis of values real?”
So goes the review by Princeton University Press of Wayne E. Baker’s book “America’s Crisis of Values: Reality and Perception”(2006). The Princeton folks say, and certainly they ought to know, “this book explores the moral terrain of America today, analyzing the widely held perception that the nation is in moral decline.”
For those of us who, like the dinosaurs out chomping foliage or frolicking through the tulips only to look up and realize there’s big boat floating nearby with a lot of our friends in it, take heart, it’s a beautiful day, it’s Mother’s Day, the sun is shining.
The water rising doesn’t mean a thing.
You have “Contemporary Sociology’s” word on it: “Is America experiencing a crisis of values? In a word: no.”
The scholars at Princeton agree: “The evidence shows overwhelmingly that America has not lost its traditional values, that the nation compares favorably with most other societies, and that the culture war is largely a myth.”
Whew. For a moment there I felt a drop of rain.
As one dinosaur said to the other dinosaur – ‘nothing to worry about.’
‘We didn’t miss the boat.’
‘Did we?’
‘Did you bring the rubber ducky inflate-able?’