Rules for Living

No. 132: Be as clear as you can, and expect to be misunderstood.

Slow Indignation

I don't mean to pick on Barack Obama, but he just keeps asking for it. Today he says he would have left Rev. Wright's church for all those offensive comments except for the fact that he knew Wright was retiring. Hey, we're all on the road to retirement. But Wright's comments about 9/11's chickens coming home to roost were made six and a half years ago.

How long will it take Obama to get indignant when he is president?

Bad Habit

A woman who stole $250,000 from a Chicago-area church where she worked did so because she was "feeding a gambling habit," according to the press. A habit? Are we so nonjudgmental? Brushing your teeth after breakfast is a habit. This is an addiction.

Human Hillary

Hillary Clinton says that her misspeaking about her trip to Bosnia proves that she is human. As if we doubted?

Human Hillary

Hillary Clinton says that her misspeaking about her trip to Bosnia proves that she is human. As if we doubted?

Misstatement

Hillary Clinton now admits to a "misstatement" over the danger of a trip she took to Bosnia when her husband was president. This was a pathetic attempt to inflate her so-called "experience" to gain an advantage over the hugely inexperienced Barack Obama. She was caught in this exaggeration only because there was footage to the contrary. My question is, how are we going to catch her when there is no video?

Resurrection Sunday

Christ the Lord is Risen Today

Judgment?

Barack Obama keeps telling us that if the decision had been his five years ago, he would have left Saddam Hussein in power. And this is evidence of his good judgment?

Death Before Life

Most people think that life comes before death. I believe that death comes before life.

Gray Obama

Rather than black or white, the color I associate most with Barack Obama is gray.

- A man who speaks in soaring rhetoric but is unspecific about his plans (except about his bias for bigger government).

- A man who says he is for racial healing but whose spiritual mentor is a conspiracy theorist with contempt for our country.

- A man who claims superior judgment, since the file listing his accomplishments is slender indeed.

Promising change (but from what and to what he doesn't say), Barack Obama offers us a blank canvas, onto which we can paint our hopes and fears:

"Vote for Obama and expiate your sins, America! Don't worry about his policies, his inexperience, or the unsavory nature of his closest associates. The tragic legacy of race in this country can be dealt with once and for all! Vote for Obama and feel good about yourself again!"

Mr. Obama's Cake

With Jeremiah Wright, Mr. Obama wants to have his cake and eat it, too. Obama disavows the lurid rants of his longtime pastor and spiritual mentor but continues to attend his church and give it his money. If I had a pastor who said anything on par with what Wright has said, I would not split hairs or parse sentences.

I would leave.

Asking Much

Barack Obama asks much. Touting judgment over experience, he asks us to believe he got in bed with political fixer Tony Rezko but didn't lose his virginity. He says he never granted favors to Rezko, who was all about clout and kickbacks. Perhaps Obama didn't give Rezko anything in response for help with his home and the lot they shared, or the hundreds of thousands he had raised for Obama's political campaigns.

But Rezko is a long-term thinker. Maybe he hadn't called Obama yet. But he definitely had the junior senator from Illinois on his rolodex. Obama asks us to believe he didn't know of Rezko's ethical and legal problems. This means Obama is either (1) dumb; (2) naive; (3) lying; or (4) darn lucky.

Is this what we want in a presidential candidate? I think this is asking too much.

Bad Week for Hillary

It's been a bad week for Hillary Clinton. First she gets trounced in Mississippi. Then Geraldine Ferraro, a prominent supporter, stirs up a hornet's nest on race. Then Eliot Spitzer, one of her superdelegates, resigns in disgrace, reminding everyone of Bill and Hillary's travails.

Is the presidency really worth all this?

Identity Politics? What Identity Politics?

I'm glad to know Barack Obama's standing in the polls as a serious presidential contender has nothing to do with him being African American. (And I'm sure the black Democrats in Mississippi, who supported him 9-1, will be glad for that clarification.) And I'm sure Hillary Clinton's strong candidacy has nothing to do with her being a woman (someone tell Gloria Steinem, please). The Democrats, after all, eschew identity politics.

Recreational Sex

A new study says fully 25 percent of teen girls have a sexually transmitted disease. No word on how many more have become pregnant, had an abortion, or otherwise had their lives and psyches turned upside down by premarital sex.

Recreational sex, indeed.

Spitzer's Fall

The fall of hard-charging Eliot Spitzer, the pro-abortion/pro-gay marriage governor of New York, for involvement in a prostitution ring illustrates the biblical wisdom that pride goes before a fall. As new details are likely to emerge, I pray for his wife and daughters.

It's Not All about ME

Judging by the unsolicited e-mails in my inbox, you might think that the founders were seeking life, liberty, and the pursuit of "male enhancement."

Enough already!

Yeah-yeah-no

In everyday conversation, when did the normal "Yes" response morph into "Yeah-yeah-yeah"?

Results

Whoever said "50 percent of life is just showing up" must have worked for the government. In the private sector, they expect results.

Good News for Republicans

Good news all around for Republicans last night. The party coalesced around McCain, allowing him to catch a breather and begin strategizing and fundraising for November. And it appears that the Democratic candidate won't be decided until the convention in July, unless Clinton gracefully steps aside.

Don't hold your breath. It could get ugly.

Leaky Rationale

Barack Obama says his suppport for abortion rights doesn't make him any less of a Christian. I suppose not. But it doesn't make him any more of one, either. And perhaps this professing Christian ought to look around and see all the non-Christians cheering him for his pro-abortion stance. Does Obama honestly think that when he stands before Jesus Christ, who said to "suffer the children," that this rationale will hold any water at all?