Veepstakes

With Obama set to announce at any moment, VP speculation is rampant. I certainly don't know who either of them will pick, but I do have my preferences. I'll admit some of those preferences are rational and some are not.

On Obama's side, I would certainly be heartened with a pro-life pick. For a party that has put NARAL front and center and rubbished good folks like the senior Mr. Casey, any lean in a more moral direction would be significant to me. At the moment only Gov. Kaine fits that description, however imperfectly. He doesn't have much experience, but I'd almost be willing to overlook that. Even slighter pro-life leanings can be found in Sen. Bayh, like myself a blue-dog, and Sen. Biden. Bayh strikes me as a rather safe, uninteresting fellow. His record is not perfect, but I don't think he'd do much harm. Biden is more problematic. He's a goodly fellow, with one of the best records on foreign policy, but he seems to suffer from perennial foot-in-mouth disease. And he has a long legislative record to plumb and attack. Gov. Sebellius has a good bi-partisan record, in a conservative state no less. But her recent pro-choice moves have really hit me the wrong way. And do we really need another liberal Catholic out there for the conservative bishops to deny communion to? (Do we, Sen. Biden?) Besides, in her stump speeches for Obama she has struck me to be about as interesting as stale wonder bread.

Then of course there's Hillary. I would have been seriously disappointed with this pick a month ago. I've long felt that this country needs to move beyond the partisan bickering and sexual indiscretions of the 90s, if that's even possible. Half the country, after all, hates her guts. But as the campaign has gotten nastier (just look at today), it has begun to look more and more like her milieu. She's got blue-collar, blue-dog credentials, a modicum of experience, and she's a fighter. Right now those are all looking like things Barack needs. She's got enough baggage to fill a container ship, and I'm already not looking forward to all the clips the right will run of her sliming Obama (which they'll undoubtedly run whether she's the running mate or not), but the country knows her and even the right respects her.

Personally, I'm still hoping it will somehow be a shocker, like the junior Casey or Hagel. And my biggest dream of all, Colin Powell. The only problem with him is that he should be at the top of the ticket. But he's never really wanted the job. Which is why he has always been perfect for it, a true Cincinnatus. As I like to say - Always give the Ring to Hobbits. Only give power to those who don't really want it. For the moment, it's Kaine and Bayh who are looking the most hobbitish.

On McCain's side it's much easier. I'm not sure I like any of them. I will be really disappointed if he picks someone like Romney, who I think is a shiftless, partisan hack. Though Giuliani's stock has risen with me in recent days, how could I abide a pro-choice Republican. That's like my worst nightmare. Mr. "a Noun, a Verb, and 9/11" just won't do. Joe Lieberman is certainly with me on many issues, but something distresses me about his fixation on the war. Even conservative commentators are saying why would we support a VP nominee who agrees with us on only one thing, the war. I certainly appreciate the long friendship he has had with McCain, a fellow maverick if you will. But it seems like he is willing to betray his entire party just over a difference on Iraq, the only major thing he agrees with the Republicans on. Perhaps that's true bi-partisanship, true character, but I just don't know. I really don't know enough about some of the others like Pawlenty and Jindal. They seem rather untested, and would diminish McCain's arguments about Obama's inexperience. At this point McCain is going to have to really impress me. A good, reforming maverick like Palin or a grand old statesman like Lugar would go a long way. (And so far the only speculation about Lugar has been for Obama). And then of course there's the Huckster. I actually like Huckabee a great deal. His folksy charm, aversion to mudslinging, and authentic faithfulness are really quite winsome. His policies in Arkansas were a mixed bag, but I don't think I would be disappointed. Of course, I don't think he has a snowball's chance in Arizona.

It's all going to be interesting. Maybe we'll all be surprised.

Politics

I have tried writing about the election several times over the last week, but each time I am held back by the question of how much to disclose my own political leanings. It is a complicated question that I have tried to answer several times. I have wrestled heavily with the notions of objectivity and bias, with my own political history and that of my family, and with what my own political philosophy and policy positions actually are. Each time my writings descend into incoherence and finally end with the merciful application of the delete button. I think this is in part due to the fact that my political thinking is really all over the map.

I come from a long line of blue-collar, blue-dog, conservative Christian, FDR Democrats. Though I am less blue-collar than my grandparents were (my parents managed to bring us into the ranks of what Marx referred to as the petit-bourgeoisie), that description still fits in many ways. The problem is that conservative Christian FDR Democrats aren't supposed to exist any more, and I find myself increasingly isolated. I'm pro-life but think it's an incredibly difficult issue to legislate. I think organized labor has gone off the rails, but that unions are essentially good. I am an environmentalist, but I still love to drive my old clunker around the state, and I am concerned about undue burdens on property owners. I love the spotted owl; I also love things made out of redwood. I think that Communism was a massive failure, based on good intentions but fatally flawed. I think Capitalism has been a great success, but it tends to leave people out and promotes a culture of greed and self-interest. I am not convinced that supply side economics helps anyone but the most wealthy. I don't see why a sensible balance of free market and regulation can't work. I never knew what to think of the Iraq war, and frankly I don't now. I think it is an absolute scandal that bin Laden is at large seven years later, but I'm grateful we haven't been successfully attacked again. I think that the Democrats have too often maligned and misunderstood the Christian faith, but that the Republicans have too often thought they owned it and have co-opted it for their own purposes. I have never been fond of George. I am quite fond of Laura. I believe the U.S. is the greatest country in the world, but that we should celebrate it with honor and humility.

Some consider all of this schizophrenic. At least one of my mentors thinks I'm a conservative Republican in the making. But I think I'd never be more than a hated RINO. I don't think either party really has what I'm looking for. But in a two-party system being an "independent" doesn't make much sense to me. Sure it sends a message that party system is broken, which it certainly is, but I'd like to vote in the primaries and keep tabs on what the party of my forebears is up to. So for the moment I'm content to remain a hated Blue-Dog.

The irony as I write this is that it reminds me of the position I am in with the Episcopal Church. I don't like what has gone on in TEC, but I'm also suspicious of the Network in general and the secession movement in particular. So until my diocese goes totally overboard, or God calls me to another ecclesiastical body, I'm content to remain in Church of my forebears. And believe me, Anglican partisans think this is schizophrenia, too.

Huzzah!

Day 17 seems to have been the last of it. I've been improving steadily for the last 3 days or so, but I was a bit nervous Sunday morning. In the end I had voice enough to sing and to read the intercessions. There is still an occasional rogue cough here and there, but it looks like I've got this thing licked. And this morning, which would have been Day 18, I could only imagine my little antibodies marching in grand review and parading the virus through the streets in chains, as joyous lung cells threw a ticker-tape parade . Salve victor!

Time will tell how long The Alta Californian survives its founding cause. I didn't sleep well last night, for an entirely different reason, so there you go.

Saddleback

Watched the live broadcast of the forum this afternoon. It was an interesting event. Senator McCain did much better than I thought he would. In many ways the questions were much better suited to his positions. The abortion, gay marriage, and faith-based initiative questions, for example were very simple for him to be able to answer. Overall he was open and straightforward, but he continues to lose me on most key issues. Senator Obama had a harder time of it, in my view. By the very nature of his political philosophy he was forced to offer more thoughtful, more nuanced answers on the very same questions, and often in a somewhat unsatisfactory manner. He seems to have a harder time with this format. So inspiring in prepared remarks on the stump, it is much more of a struggle him to formulate good responses on the fly, even when he has really good answers in mind.

It is not the conventional wisdom, but I think this will all give McCain the advantage in the debates. But we'll see, McCain's candor occasionally gets him in trouble, and some of his answers come off as politically artificial. For example, Pastor Warren's first question. The wisest people McCain knows are General Petraeus and Meg Whitman? How convenient. ("The military and big-business", my father muttered). For Obama it was his grandmother. How very human...and non-political. So we'll see.

I'll be posting more about the election in the coming days, in part just to flesh out my own thoughts on politics and the politics of this particular moment. As with other aspects of my life, my politics defy easy description. And at this hour, I don't even want to try.

I stand corrected. The CW emerging is that McCain did triumph at Saddleback, and that this is evidence that he just may rule the debates.

8

Looks like master Phelps has done it. What he has done has been remarkable, inspiring, and just plain fun to watch. Kudos to him, and to masters Peirsol, Hansen, and Lezak for sharing in it.

Holy Lip-Synching

Reading up on the Beijing lip-synching scandal, I was reminded that, once, long ago in middle school, I myself was once the voice behind the face.

I attended a conservative Lutheran school in the SF Bay Area (yes, there are Christian conservatives in the Bay Area, if you know where to find them), and every year the school would exhibit an "operetta", a musical production based on some biblical story or theme. I myself starred once, first as Moses, and later as the narrator for a version of the Book of Esther. But not before I was the back-up singer for one of my classmates. He was bright and a decent actor, but didn't have much of a voice. My best friend and I were called upon to sing his solo pieces. I honestly don't remember if he lip-synched it. There was no attempt to hide us per se, but we were positioned over in a corner, where only the back few rows of audience could see us. Back then, and even in retrospect now, it was kind of fun. And how could I say no to such a call....the story was Jonah. Besides, I later went to star, despite being an ugly duckling Episcopalian. I hope Lin Miaoke and Yang Peiyi are both able to look beyond the kerfuffle and enjoy it as much as I did.

Speaking of singing, I had an interesting experience in church last Sunday. Among the other casualties of this bronchitis has been my voice, both speaking and singing. (Things are finally beginning to improve on Day 14). I've been able to rasp along in conversation, but my singing voice was, and still is, almost completely gone. There's nothing I love quite so much as hymn singing, to join with God's people, in unity and harmony, lifting our praises to the Most High. So I thought it would be an agony to stand there in silence, so I opened the hymnal and whispered along. What happened was remarkable (So much so, it has taken me four days to process it). I'm so used to the resonance of my own voice as I sing. Without it, I was better able to enjoy the singing, and through it the heart of worship of the rest of the congregation. Yet by whispering, I was engaged in heart and mind with the content of the praises being sung. It was as if my 'still small voice' resonated with the 'still small voice' of the Lord (Since the Transfiguration, I've been reflecting on the life and ministry of Elijah - who saw that sometimes God comes not in the tempest, but in the whisper). The effect was a profound sense of the presence of the Holy Spirit in our worship, and of the joy and delight God takes even in our whispered praises.

I am still working this out in my mind, because there was even more there. I felt the sensation that through our worship we were being poured out as an oblation to God. As my friend Peregrinator has previously observed, in the Eucharist our offerings and oblations, imperfect as the offering of Cain, are taken by God and through the sacrifice of Jesus, become the true offering of Abel, for Christ is the New Abel, just as He is the New Adam. Our meager bread and wine become the Body of Christ, just as our meager selves become the Body of Christ. God took our offerings of praise, even my raspy, whispered praise, and joined it with the sacrifice of Christ to create a perfect act of praise and offering. I don't know if any of this makes sense. There is simply so much going on in the Eucharist, it overwhelms me sometimes.

I am often complimented for my singing voice (if I do say so myself), but I may whisper my hymns more often. I guess something good came from this pesky cold, after all.

Day 11

All morning and afternoon I felt better. Then suddenly, on the way home from work, it was back with a vengeance. This is getting tiresome.

On the upside, it's been awfully fun watching young master Phelps make history. That race last night was stunning. I don't think the French shall be taunting us for a second time, if you know what I mean. Whose father smells of elderberries, now?