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McCain and Obama: Two Lonely Souls
I watched the third Presidential Debate and I saw two lonely human beings.
Maybe that's just the pure projection of my working pastor's heart. I certainly have no inside information. Outwardly, I saw what everyone else saw. But given this campaign's heated criticisms of the candidates' pastors and their political passions, who, if anyone, is pastoring--truly caring for--the spirits of these two men through this stressful time?
We're told they're being handled, coached, and scheduled within an inch of their lives. We know that national campaigns in this media-saturated and blog-infested time demand a superhuman ability to "stay on message" at all costs.
But I see two men who are not just standard-bearers of their parties. I see two human beings who are who not so managed that they don't have feelings. The images in the debates invite merciless scrutiny. We are sure that we see both masterful acting and honest emotion. And we know those emotions include fear and anger.
Those raw emotions are in the crowds, too. And there have been some sobering reminders in the last ten days of how those inner energies can spill over from legitimate fear and anger to something ugly and even dangerous.
We then demand the candidates "pastor" those crowds and their emotions. But again: who pastors them now that they've had to disavow their own pastors?
Religion and politics have been intertwined in our history. We aren't going to wish that connection away. I don't see any ready consensus on how to evaluate candidates' religious practice or belief, but if they do practice and believe as they say they do, I wish for them to have a spiritual friend or mentor, a pastor to hear what's inside them, what's beneath the managed image and the campaign discipline.
We won't likely see peaceful souls in the crowds if there aren't centered souls on the platform. We can't really "do" anything. We can only hope they get soul-guidance and spiritual nourishment they need.
By
William Tully
|
October 17, 2008; 2:14 PM ET
| Category:
Religion & Leadership
,
Religion & Politics
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Next: The War of the Gods
Posted by: sparrow4 | October 18, 2008 4:50 PM
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More false equivalencies from conservative religious politics, I should think.
'All the lonely people, where do they all come from..' something that in my own 'ministry' I've seen all the time. Maybe on some level, most people in the modern world. But. I don't think we're really talking about the same kind of things in terms of political character... If Obama is lonely, it's that of someone standing on principle despite great attempts by his opposition to *ostracize* him.
If McCain is, it's the same sort of destructive tack as anyone with a history of carousing, seeking fame through conflict, and in fact trying to find (in his case) a misogynistic 'in group' that'll applaud his temper and bad attempts at humor, all the while obsessively saying 'My Friends' in a pandering way, but not really leading.
Anyone notice how his own current wife, widely thought to have been driven to drugs, and who he once called a 'c*nt* in public, just looks *glazed?*
If he wants friends, he should look a little closer to home. Or stop trying to get a modicum of popularity by pandering to those who applaud hurtfulness and just come by my house.
Not saying I wouldn't have a beer with the man at the pub, but I keep saying it over and over again, when he tries to be 'funny,' ... "He's going for the a****le vote again, isn't he?"
Humans do that. Doesn't make em presidential material.
Doesn't make it the same thing as how a statesman with diversity things in his life tries to turn it to *helping America.*
Posted by: Paganplace | October 18, 2008 2:48 PM
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Maybe we saw a different debate. I saw a confident balanced Obama and shallow figure of a once respected John McCain who sold his soul to Cheney's neocons and Palin's neochristians.
Posted by: coloradodog | October 18, 2008 7:26 AM
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I understand the concern of Rev. Tully- and I think he is right to ask. But i also think it was pretty obvious that Obama is well grounded, and a look at his family and the depths of their devotion to one another tell a lot of the story. McCain doesn't want spiritual guidance- he wants political power. If he is lonely and in need of guidance, there has been no indication of it. ambition and ruthlessness seem to be his driving forces.Spirituality doesn't exist in a vacuum. And right now, that's where McCain is- in a spiritual and moral vacuum.