More recriminations from religious conservatives. Charisma magazine devotes its cover to Michael Dale Huckabee, “The Preacher Who Dared to Be President.” Conservative religious leaders, the magazine says, failed Christian voters by getting behind Huckabee too late or not at all because of non-religious or –social issues, so they are stuck with a Republican presidential candidate who never shared their values.
Harry R. Jackson, co-author of Personal Faith, Public Policy and pastor of Hope Christian Church in Washington, D.C., says in the failure to endorse Huckabee we have witnessed “the failure of the current Christian philosophy of political engagement.”
“The only reason that Gov. Huckabee did not win more votes from evangelicals was their concern about the non-spiritual aspects of [his] candidacy,” he says.
In the end, most conservative Christian leaders let down Christian voters.
Says Staver: “When all of them should’ve gotten behind Mike Huckabee, at that moment in time when they were called to be leaders, they flinched.”
And here, the former governor returns to his alma mater and reflects on his schooling there and what he thinks he brought to the presidential race: a dose of reality. All the other Republican candidates reflexively lauded the national economy while he knew and said that for ordinary Americans it was lousy. Will he run again in four or eight years? Maybe.