Millions of his followers were disappointed Saturday, as the Big Day arrived without much fanfare. Detractors can rest easy. It’s not the end of the world, as we know it.
By 8 pm Central Standard Time, it became apparent that the hopes of some and the fears of many others did not materialize. No announcement of impending doom came forth through the airways of every news channel in the country.
No, I’m not talking about May 21st and Harold Camping, but May 14th and the second running of Mike Huckabee. The former non-event was an epic fail, as Camping’s prediction that the earth would be swallowed by an earthquake and all of God’s people would be “raptured,” did not come to pass. Neither did the second event.
Those of us who wanted Governor Huckabee to be our next president were very disappointed, but few of us thought it was the end of the world. We were glad to see him put his Lord and faith first. A few candidates remain that are strong pro-life and pro-marriage. Cain supports the Fair Tax, and a few, like Huckabee did, may oppose both a governmental mandate on buying insurance, and the mandate on coverage of pre-existing conditions. His consistent likeability to most folks may go unsurpassed. Nobody put all of this together like Governor Huckabee.
I have no idea where others may turn. Some may drop out of politics altogether. Others will seek feverishly for another candidate to live and die for. I will fall between those two extremes, though closer to the former than the latter. I will patiently decide who to vote for, and perhaps that person will inspire me to work for them.
Who will it be? Rick Santorum, Hermann Cain, Michelle Bachmann, and Tim Pawlenty are on my short list. I would like to see Santorum come to his senses on his support of Arlen Specter. I will look into Pawlenty’s record on social issues. I think he is where my vote might go if he passes muster. Though there are other candidates running I am no fan of, I certainly would not work against them in the primary season. I vote for people, not against them. I’d probably hold my nose and vote for Ron Paul in the Iowa Caucuses, if it came down to him, Palin, Romney and Gingrich.
There is one Senator who ruled out running that I could support, if he changed his mind: Jim DeMint. I would be thrilled if he would run. None of the other candidates inspire me, much. Contrary to what some would intimate, it isn’t because they aren’t “Christian” enough for me. It is not my place to judge their personal faith. All politicians have flaws, Huckabee included. But some of those flaws make it difficult to support them with anything beyond a vote in the general election.
I supported Huckabee because of who he is, not his position on just one or two specific issues. I could have lived with some differences on economic issues (though they were few and far between, as he really got a raw deal on those, in my opinion). A lot can happen in nine months. Maybe Huckabee will end up on the ticket as VP. No rapture there, but a few minor shouts of joy, nevertheless.