For years, we’ve heard talk that George W. Bush believes God chose him to be president. The evidence to support this — the assertion, not the deity’s political preference — has always been a little thin, and I haven’t seen any actual Bush quotes to suggest he believes his presidency is the result of divine intervention.
This is not to say Bush doesn’t accept the contention, only that he’s politically aware enough to know not to make such a claim out loud. Mike Huckabee, however, isn’t quite as sharp as Bush.
About a week ago, Jonathan Falwell, son of the infamous TV preacher Jerry Falwell who died earlier this year, reported on Huckabee’s recent appearance at Liberty University, the right-wing school founded by his father. Falwell, in a piece for the conservative NewsMax site, reported, “Mr. Huckabee also said that Divine providence was responsible for his recent surge in the polls in Iowa, as he noted that he is the candidate with much less capital firepower than his rivals.”
Of course, neither Falwell nor NewsMax are reliable sources. Would a major presidential candidate really argue publicly that God is intervening on his behalf in a Republican presidential primary? Wouldn’t that be … a little nutty?
Huckabee’s religious beliefs are his own business, but it’s not unreasonable to worry about a guy who believes he is literally God’s own candidate.
For those who can’t watch clips online, here’s a transcript of the exchange in Lynchburg.
STUDENT: Recent polls show you surging… What do you attribute this surge to?
HUCKABEE: There’s only one explanation for it, and it’s not a human one. It’s the same power that helped a little boy with two fish and five loaves feed a crowd of five thousand people. (Applause) That’s the only way that our campaign can be doing what it’s doing. And I’m not being facetious nor am I trying to be trite. There literally are thousands of people across this country who are praying that a little will become much, and it has. And it defies all explanation, it has confounded the pundits. And I’m enjoying every minute of them trying to figure it out, and until they look at it, from a, just experience beyond human, they’ll never figure it out. And it’s probably just as well. That’s honestly why it’s happening.
Frankly, this kind of talk isn’t particularly conducive to a healthy democratic process.
Candidates are going to argue that they, and they alone, are the single best person to lead the nation. Occasionally, they’ll even argue that they have stronger character and better morals than their rivals. Fine. But the moment major-party candidates start publicly characterizing themselves as God’s anointed one, we stray from an American system to a theocratic one.
Worse, I really doubt that Huckabee was just pandering for evangelical votes at a right-wing college — by all appearances, Huckabee really believes that his rise in the polls is a result of God’s intervention. His remarks sounded entirely sincere. Indeed, they were almost arrogant and prideful — Huckabee suggested he knows God’s agenda for the Republican Party, and he’s enjoying watching secular reporters who aren’t in on the theological game.
Earlier this week, Huckabee bristled when asked about his opposition to modern biology, lecturing reporters on the irrelevance of his beliefs. But he can’t have it both ways — Huckabee can’t in one breath characterize himself as God’s candidate, and then in the next insist his theological beliefs are off-limits.
Given all of this, the scrutiny needs to be taken up a notch. If Huckabee is running as God’s chosen one, maybe he could offer voters additional details about how he’d combine religion and government power. Does he believe in the Rapture? Would it shape his Middle East policy? As Paul Waldman asked, “If a hurricane threatens the Gulf Coast, will he be asking Americans to ask God to send the hurricane away and instructing FEMA to prepare an emergency response, or only the former?”
Are these questions rude? Probably. Cheeky? Absolutely. But Huckabee opened the door.