Election ’08: The Sobering Gut-check

It occurs to me that – in the midst of the silliness, inauthenticity, blame-flinging, manufactured indignation, sly slanders, underhanded moves – and the rest of it aside, we in America are preparing to put into office the most powerful person on the planet.

I know, for some that is arguable, for for the purposes of this post, let’s just stipulate that The President of the United States is indeed, the most powerful person on the planet.

Between now and November, I’m going to give readers and opportunity to check their “gut” about the current crop of presidential candidates. This is gut-check #1. I am putting the names of all of these candidates into a hat and pulling them randomly, and posting their pictures. To be utterly fair, I am taking their “official” portraits off of their election sites – and not editing the sizes – so no one can say I am trying to influence anyone. Where I could not find an “official” portrait I used their websites.

I invite you to put aside any of your pet peeves, single-issue obsessions (abortion rights/immigration), intense hates or loves and your party loyalties. Put aside issues of gender, race or religion. Ask yourself one question and one question only:

Who of these do I TRUST with the influence and military might that comes with the most powerful office in the world? Who do I TRUST to be the MOST POWERFUL PERSON ON THE PLANET?

Our guts are there for a reason – they are the “animal instinct” if you’re a secularist or the “prompting of angels” if you’re very religious. When you ignore your gut, you usually regret it and say, “I should have followed my gut.” When you pay attention to them, you’re usually very glad you did.

So please, check your gut – the question is not who do you like, or who do you desire, but who do you TRUST with all that power? Scroll down bit-by-bit, so you really only see one candidate at a time.

You’re welcome to leave your answer, but not to go into a whole explanation or harangue. I don’t want to pay for that much bandwidth, and – as I say – we’ll be doing this a few times between today and November, so just list who your “gut” responded to…and whether or not that surprised you. And get your friends to answer too, if you can. Or workmates.

The “TRUST” Gut-check:

President Mike Huckabee:
The Most Powerful Person on the Planet

President John Edwards:
The Most Powerful Person on the Planet

President Mitt Romney:
The Most Powerful Person on the Planet

President Hillary Rodham Clinton:
The Most Powerful Person on the Planet

President Rudolph Giuliani:
The Most Powerful Person on the Planet

President Ron Paul:
The Most Powerful Person on the Planet

President Barack Obama:
The Most Powerful Person on the Planet

President Fred Thompson:
The Most Powerful Person on the Planet

President John McCain:
The Most Powerful Person on the Planet