Support Huckabee? In Your Dreams!

On the overnight of Jan. 2-3 I had an arresting dream about the front-runner and now-proven winner of Iowa's 2008 Republican presidential caucus. The following narration of images and phrases -- not horrific, just lucid -- sums up my sense of our current political moment:
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Amidst a small sea of campaign staffers, potential caucus-goers, and even Huckabee himself, we found ourselves in nondescript quarters (a pscyho-schematic composite of veterans' hall, church basement, hotel conference room...). From the speaker's platform Huck corralled all his people into a rows-deep line-up, as an aerobics instructor would for a workout. Despite our slacks, dress shirts, and leather shoes, Huck actually was gearing up to lead us through a workout. To promote fitness and weight-loss it was -- and it was only because television cameras were on hand to can Huck's unique, can-do message in that department. But I wasn't there to dance for a dieting Mike Huckabee. I certainly didn't want to be part of any dog-and-pony show. Initially curious to be there, I wanted to be elsewhere.

Then ... as if my wish were answered ... Huck and I stood together on an open, empty, grassy slope, peering up at a winterbright sky. Sharp sunlight caught edges of occasional little clouds, wispy and curly-cued, that scripted the overhead blue. Silvery light slivers glinted off  them and jabbed our nearly rapt eyes. Dreamy in our admiration Huck and I stared at the authority those otherwise insubstantial clouds enjoyed -- so aimless and freefloating, yet captivating ... vaguely. Fresh, crisp, winter air gusted against our faces which, slightly flushed, kept taking in a great heartland sky, capping the little, providential patch of green earth we'd been given to occupy.

A wordless understanding might have been passing between Huck and me. A communion almost, but then he disturbed the calm. For we'd been gazing at the little silver against bigger white against biggest blue when The Voice of Huck pronounced in his soft, folksy tone:

That's God's light....

The thing is, I couldn't tell whether Mike Huckabee was preaching to me personally -- talking man-to-man, heart-to-heart, soul-to-soul; whether, overcome by conviction, he was testifying to no one in particular; or whether he was politicking in the worst way -- bullshitting and bullying me, messing with the moment by saying something he knew factually to be true, but which we both knew didn't need to be said (indeed, needed to not be said) because it was beyond anyone's power of speech. I didn't know whether Huck had had the authority to say what he'd just said, or, if he'd had it, whether he'd used that authority properly or improperly, righteously or unrighteously. So what had started out for me as an inspired moment that happened to take place alongside Huck was turned into an anxious and nauseous one.

I knew exactly where we were, but I couldn't tell where Mike Huckabee was coming from.

A man can -- always should -- show himself to you as a man. A politician can't ever avoid it -- and a good one shows himself to you precisely when, precisely because he's vying for you to accept him as a leader. Every politician who becomes a leader of men shows himself to every man without fail. Sadly any politician who fails to lead falters in sustaining himself before the public, as a man. But the ones who do lead, they step forward. They insert themselves between the public (plebian and noble alike) and the nation's calling, its destiny. They step forward and they remain there, bringing the public (plebian and noble alike) with them -- keeping them there ... sustaining them there ... urging them on ... to their destiny.

When an ordinary man -- a man of little or no ambition --  falters there, that's forgettable. When an ordinary politician -- a man of minor ambition -- falters there, that's disappointing. But when A Man Who Would Be President of The United States of America falters there, that's unforgivable. The anxiety of my dream about Mike Huckabee, momentary front-runner of my party, is that the truest thing he could have uttered at the dream's truest moment, admittedly something entirely in his rights and reach to say -- which he did say, to the letter -- could have been in spirit just cold calculation. Whatever scrutiny I'll give to the real Mike Huckabee will probe, in real life and real time, such concerns as were present in my -- my Huckmare.
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Comments

[Lex]

HAHA! Well, anything to get the MittBott all in a tizzy. He might have even said something like, "Aw, peanuts!" last night.

Honestly, I'm with Obama so I'm hoping that all of the elephants lose. The giant gust of support for Huck was a little surprising though, even in Iowa.

[Mick Brady]

While I'm relieved to see the last remnants of the Sixties Revolution swept out the door with the confetti and broken balloons, the best we can hope for now is a showdown between a young, black Gen X liberal and a true, seasoned, solid and clear-thinking conservative grown-up. America, I hope, will recognize the difference.

This is no time for one-issue candidates (including race and religion) or those of chameleonic persuasion; this is no time for on-the-job training; this is no time for gambling with our future. We are headed into times that will try our souls, perhaps in ways they have never been tried. There is no margin for error.

J, even your dreams are brilliant.

[Mr. Majik]

Great Post! Thanks for sending me an e-mail about it. I only wish I had a great alternative candidate for us. At this point I'm with you and from the comments above I can only guess that you're a Romney supporter. I'll happily support him if he's the nominee, though I'll support whichever Republican gets the nomination, even if I have to tote a barf bag into the voting booth.

Anyway, we're a long way from anybody looking like the winning Republican nominee, and thank God for that! As Rush emphasized, the real disaster from last night is Hillary's and the media underplayed that like the plague.

The left wants our Huckleberry on top so badly they can taste it. Let's hope our good, level-headed Republican Party has the good sense to not offer him up for the picking.

[Gabe]

*Honestly, I'm with Obama so I'm hoping that all of the elephants lose. The giant gust of support for Huck was a little surprising though, even in Iowa.*

I'm with Barack Hussein Obama, too, because he will be absolutely crushed in a general election: no experience, a socialist, and a semi-Muslim. There is no way this guy could possibly win, even with the MSM gushing over him and sleazy young women drooling over him. He is certainly the candidate terrorists--enemies of America and Israel--wish to win.

The only possible way he *could* win would be for Republicans to nominate Huckabee, which must be the reason that the MSM is promoting Huckabee so much. Huckabee has got to be the worst candidate, and I doubt he will get the nomination. Anyone looks better than him, which is probably why McCain and Giuliani will soon jump in the polls, despite initial misgivings.

[JMK]

I'm looking for a Robo-Republican - someone to embody traits from several candidates. That Thompson and McCain showed signs of life is a good thing - keeps the whole thing competitive. On to New Hampshire.