If Mike Huckabee has said it once, he has said it a thousand times during his bid to reach the White House.<\/p>\n\n
\u201cI have a great respect for Barack Obama,\u201d noted Huckabee, during a \u201cTonight Show\u201d visit. \u201cI think he\u2019s a person who is trying to do in many ways what I hope I\u2019m trying to do and that is to say, \u2018Let\u2019s quit what I call horizontal politics.\u2019 <\/p>\n\n
\u201cEverything in this country is not left, right, liberal, conservative, Democrat, Republican. I think the country is looking for somebody who is vertical, who is thinking, \u2018Let\u2019s take America up and not down.\u2019 \u201c<\/p>\n\n
This is how the Southern Baptist pastor tweaked his \u201cvertical\u201d credo on \u201cMeet the Press,\u201d facing journalist Tim Russert: \u201cThere has been a huge cultural shift in this country, Tim. And I think that\u2019s why many Americans are seeking leadership that has a positive and optimistic spirit. \u2026 I think the American people are hungry for vertical politics, where we have leaders who lift us up rather than those who tear us down.\u201d<\/p>\n\n
The former Arkansas governor has used the word \u201cvertical\u201d so many times that enquiring politicos want to know: What\u2019s \u201cup\u201d with this guy? Some worry that, as critic Josh Marshall put it, Huckabee is sending a \u201cclever dog whistle call out to Christian fundamentalists and evangelicals that his politics are God?s politics.\u201d<\/p>\n\n
This kind of uplifting, vaguely spiritual language may make some people uncomfortable, but there is nothing unusual about it, according to former White House insider Michael Gerson, the evangelical scribe who helped craft the early speeches of President George W. Bush.<\/p>\n\n
\u201cMaking use of these kinds of non-sectarian religious references is, itself, the great tradition of American political speechmaking,\u201d said Gerson, who is now a Washington Post opinion columnist. \u201cAs a speechwriter, when I hear this kind of language it tells me that someone is trying to describe a politics of idealism and aspiration. It\u2019s a kind of bringing-America-together language and there is certainly nothing new about political leaders trying to do that.\u201d<\/p>\n\n
In fact, there is another candidate in the race who has been using large doses of religious imagery. As Huckabee has noted, Sen. Barack Obama has created some non-horizontal language of his own during his quest to find a truly \u201cpost-partisan\u201d politics.<\/p>\n\n
\u201cWe are up against the conventional thinking that says your ability to lead as president comes from longevity in Washington or proximity to the White House,\u201d said Obama, after his primary victory in South Carolina. \u201cBut we know that real leadership is about candor, and judgment, and the ability to rally Americans from all walks of life around a common purpose \u2014 a higher purpose. ? This election is our chance to give the American people a reason to believe again.\u201d<\/p>\n\n
Clearly, Gerson noted, Obama feels comfortable talking about his Christian faith as he discusses his own political goals and beliefs. <\/p>\n\n
It\u2019s hard to fake this. Obama feels comfortable enough to use biblical images in a wide variety of settings, whether he is making a high-profile speech or chatting with voters after Sunday services.<\/p>\n\n
\u201cI don\u2019t believe, in his case, that this is someone who is unfamiliar with religious language, but trying to adapt it all of a sudden for political reasons,\u201d said Gerson.<\/p>\n\n
This is also true for Bill Clinton, a Southern Baptist who uses his deep knowledge of Bible Belt language as a way to connect with conservative believers \u2014 especially African-Americans \u2014 as well as with religious and political progressives. And Hillary Clinton is very comfortable talking about her United Methodist faith, noted Gerson. However, her \u201csincere liberal mainline Protestant beliefs\u201d may not connect with as many people who worship in other pews.<\/p>\n\n
Meanwhile, Obama and Huckabee will continue trying to find faith-based words that unite, rather than divide.<\/p>\n\n
When it comes to language, \u201cthey are the soaring candidates,\u201d said Gerson. \u201cThey are trying to claim the higher ground that says they are above the vicious partisanship of the whole Clinton-Bush era.\u201d<\/p>\n\n
They are not the first to blaze this trail. As an articulate idealist once put it: \u201cI suggest to you there is no left or right, only an up or down.\u201d<\/p>\n\n
That was Ronald Reagan, in the 1964 speech that launched him into national politics. He went on to win his share of votes in church pews.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
If Mike Huckabee has said it once, he has said it a thousand times during his bid to reach the White House. \u201cI have a great respect for Barack Obama,\u201d noted Huckabee, during a \u201cTonight Show\u201d visit. \u201cI think he\u2019s a person who is trying to do in many ways what I hope I\u2019m trying […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":610,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[96,230,556,557,1544],"class_list":["post-1475","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-barach-obama","tag-civil-religion","tag-mike-gerson","tag-mike-huckabee","tag-politics"],"yoast_head":"\n