What Do JFK and Huckabee Have in Common?

A few days after Caroline Kennedy endorsed Barack Obama, I was training new voice-recognition software to understand my dictation. The set-up menu gave me several choices of things to read into a microphone. One was the Inaugural Address of John F. Kennedy.

After noticing that Obama's slogan and entire campaign seem to have been cribbed from the first sentence of the 48-year-old speech, I found myself wondering who would be dumb enough to invoke "Almighty God" in line two of a nationally-televised address? Oh wait, that would be JFK and Mike Huckabee.

For the record, the second sentence in JFK's Inaugural is: "For I have sworn before you and Almighty God the same solemn oath our forebears prescribed nearly a century and three quarters ago." Kennedy mentions God three times in his brief speech and ends by telling Americans "here on earth God's work must be truly our own."

I confess I felt some shock in reviewing how freely the first Catholic president used the "G" word. Reverend Martin Luther King used it regularly, too. So does Mike Huckabee. The New York Times reported that Huckabee "defied expectations on Tuesday by winning contests in Alabama, Arkansas, Tennessee, West Virginia and Georgia." Whose expectations?

How do my fellow reporters in their quadrennial pilgrimages to the "heartland" and the "Bible Belt," miss observing that many citizens get by everyday on prayer, meditation and their belief in God. In much of the nation, God is a neutral or even positive word -- an entity associated with help and refuge.

I spent much of the last five years away from the East Coast -- in Texas. The reporter in me couldn't help noticing that greater numbers of men than I was used to were church-goers. When they had crises, they talked with their pastors. They prayed. They studied the Bible. They had a spiritual side for which they were not apologetic. This by no means made them good or moral people, but it did, in my opinion, divide them from many politicians, reporters and newsmakers.

Watching pundits perplexed year-after-year by the "religious right" is enervating. Wake up people! It's not a mystery. Voters who are spiritual or religious prefer voting for politicians who don't think they're crazy.

So which candidate was most Kennedy-esque in references to the higher power post-Super Tuesday? Huckabee mentioned God three times; Hillary Clinton mentioned him/her twice. Obama, McCain and Romney tied with zero mentions, but Obama's oratory was so Reverend Martin Luther King-like, he seemed to have mentioned God.

At the end of the day, though, only the text of Hillary Clinton's speech evoked comment on YouDecide08.foxnews.com: "Daily in my prayer," read the post, "I ask God to make it possible for you to win and change the pathetic plights of the people of the world for good. It seems God is paying attention to my request!"

Finishing up my laptop's political training I went off-script to teach it the name "Obama." "Oh bummer," was what it typed instead.

Comments

[kae]

I have no problem with religious voters seeking out religious candidates - my only problem is that religious voters seem to only care about that one issue....everytime George W. Bush was running for president he peppered his speeches with plenty of "God" & "Jesus" rhetoric.....look what we got a murdering liar...praise Jesus!

[yankeezog]

Go Huckles! Perhaps if he mentions God FIVE times in his next speech, he'll hang around long enough to impede the start of McCain's national campaign!

[Asunderlander]

I'm glad you point out Obama's MLK gospel intonations in his speeches. I think buried there is one of most overlooked advantages he has over Hillary Clinton. He's able to speak in the register of a preacher and invoke fuzzy feelings for a church going audience in a way that Clinton can never successfully duplicate. This fact means that no matter how often she mentions God, Obama will probably be more successful in playing to a religiously observant audience.

[NorthernLite]

Well, they're both mammals, although I do have some questions as to Hucklebarry's lineage.

[3fingerbrown]

They're both successful U.S. politicians who know that invoking the Almighty is a surefire applause line. God is a handy device for swaying populations. That's why God was invented.

[katie1431]

The next president could see several opportunities for Supreme Court nominations. This offers the potential of a bloody political battlefield. Of all the candidates, Hillary is the most practical and best equipped (with both advisors and her own brains) to remain calm and purposeful under the cannon fire. It might be that God inspires this strength in her for all I know. But she doesn't preach well, so she ought to let the bible thumpers thump, and just be herself.

[politico08]

In any case, God works for Huckabee. Look at the results from the weekend primaries! I think this blogger's right--voters like candidates who don't think they're crazy for believing in God.

[sassafra]

uhhhh....they're both carbon based life forms? what? what? for the life of me i can't imagine...

[DasBoot]

Your point being? How does mentioning the word "God" make one Kennedyesque??? If anything, it would be Dobsonenque or Robertsonesque.

Now, speaking about welfare for all, common sacrifice for a higher good, striving for national greatness, that would be Kennedyesque. And guess who does that best? Obama!

[audri]

Hillary needs to come out with a better answer when she is asked why she did not vote against the war.
I suggest she say, Barak Obama did not vote against the war, he could not as he was not in the Senate when the vote came up. He made speeches at the time against us going to war , I made speeches against us going to war. Since he has been in the senate our voting record on the war has been identical. Our plan for getting us out of the war is now almost identical. I invite everyone to read -Floor Speech of Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton
on S.J. Res. 45, A Resolution to Authorize the Use of
United States Armed Forces Against Iraq, Octber 10, 2002 which will explain very clearly my thought processes at the time. My thought processes now are also very clear, I will bring us out of the war. i will end this war.

Folks- read the speech through to the end. Though not all that could be desired - I think it back ups what she has said her thought process was-
of course I would liked her to vote against the war- I guess the question that is out there is- would Obama have voted against the war.

[josephiatron]

Oh come on, for crying out loud!
Obama was not there for the vote to authorize war?
These trolls are really reaching. Do they think we are
that gullible? He was one of the few who had the guts
to vote against that resolution. Everybody with half a
brain knew it was wrong to vote for that but most were
to scared because of the Bush propaganda war to speak
out and vote against authorization.
The only candidate left with courage, brilliance,and
charisma: Barack Obama.

[eshalom]

You are incredibly uninformed. Obama was a part-time Illinois state senator at the time of that resolution in the U.S. Senate. But in his campaign literature, his speeches, and debate performances he never mentions that part. He misleads people like you to believe that he actually voted against the resolution. He also doesn't mention that he has publicly acknowledged that had he been in the US Senate at the time of the vote, he does not know how he would have voted. And he never mentions that he's voted to support the war since he became a US Senator.

[anniethena]

Obama wasn't in the US Senate until 2005; he was anti-war at the time of that resolution but neither he nor his guts were able to vote in 2002.

[PortiaElizabeth]

joseph, you're the sort of Obama supporter who worries people most. You are so sure of a "fact" that, when researched, is proven to be not factual at all. Obama was still in the Illinois senate when that vote came up in Congress.
It's all well and good to say "I'm opposed to this or that," but it's one's actions that matter.
Have you seen the classic movie, The Caine Mutiny"?" The second in command takes over the ship when the captain snaps at a critical moment. He is subsequently tried for mutiny with a penalty of possible hanging. The officer who'd actually first accused the captain of being crazy and who'd encouraged the second in command to take control of the ship, gets on the witness stand and denies all knowledge when he hears that he also can be tried for mutiny for suggesting it. His words initiated the mutiny, but when it came time to back up those words to save his fellow officer, he chose to protect himself instead.
It's easy to say a thing, but actions have consequences and not everyone who speaks is willing to act when called upon. Unfortunately we'll never know what Obama would've done because he wasn't there.