An Early Look at 2012.

Now that President Obama has recently "reaffirmed his Christian faith in a speech at the National Prayer Breakfast in Washington", I suppose the 2012 Presidential campaign is officially underway. It's time to begin giving serious consideration to finding a candidate who I can support in a run against the President.

On her blog, Linda Grass says that she had her ".... wake-up moment about Sarah Palin when she endorsed Rand Paul who also supports the morning after pill, is not fully behind the federal partial-birth abortion ban and even committed fraud against Kentucky Right to Life by turning over a forged document when they did not endorse him over pro-lifer Trey Grayson".

I've been uneasy over Palin for quite some time and like Graas, I certainly couldn't support any candidate who goes against Catholic teaching regarding abortion. ( By Catholic teaching I mean authentic Catholic teaching, not Catholic teaching as interpreted by cafeteria Catholics like Nancy Pelosi, Joe Biden and John Kerry ). Graas suggests that social Conservatives get behind "Michele Bachmann, Mike Huckabee, Tim Pawlenty, Newt Gingrich….or some other social conservative for President".

Good idea.

I'm not ready to comment on Bachman or Pawlenty yet. True, I've only heard positive things about the two from fellow Conservatives; still, I'd rather look further before voting for either. There's no way I can support Huckabee. His stirring up of anti-Mormon prejudice among fundamentalist Christians towards Romney in 2008 removes him from my list of Presidential candidates (unless, of course, it came down to choosing Huckabee or Obama - then, I'd have to hold my nose and pick the Huckster).

This leaves Newt. From a strictly political perspective, Newt would win my vote, hands down. However, his history of multiple marriages, divorces and adultery is problematic. In his favor, Gingrich has converted to Catholicism. If his conversion is authentic, then I'd have no problem casting a vote for him. Being able to forgive is part of what we as Christians are called to do. If he's truly turned over a new leaf, then he has my support. With Newt's natural inclination for smaller government and the Church's teaching on subsidiarity, we might be able to turn this country around.

It's impossible to know what is inside someone's heart, but I'm willing to give Gingrich the benefit of the doubt for the time being.