Saturday, October 3, 1998

Clinton not the country's moral leader

By MICHAEL O'CONNOR

Abilene Reporter-News

I confess I am surprised by the vehemence of those who feel betrayed by Clinton, as though he had not been elected just to be president but also First Pastor or Supreme Moral Example.

I never looked to presidents to be my moral example -- even Jimmy Carter, who earned the respect of many for his strong religious convinctions that translated into action on behalf of the disenfranchised. Carter's reputation improved, you'll remember, after he left office.

Perhaps you remember the fuss we made over his attempts to do away with the excesses of the presidential office, preferring suits to tuxedos, Fords to Lincolns and the like. He's failing to preserve the dignity of the office, pundits carped. Or how about double-digit inflation and our deep, national malaise? He's so depressing, they said. Or the hostage crisis? He lacks influence and power, they explained.

And power, pomp and circumstance is really what every little child aspires to when he or she dreams of being president, not a life of moral superiority. Given the kinds of pronouncements Jesus made, chances are the two lifestyles are contradictory.

Me, I never wanted to be president. I wanted to be Billy Graham. Or Steve, the college student who came to our church when I was in high school to conduct a youth revival. He stayed in our home during the week, treated me like an equal and showed me you could be a regular guy and still be a Christian.

I don't hear too many people these days who want to be like some preacher. A few, here and there. But Jim and Jimmy and Robert have made many believe that Billy is an anomaly. That preachers are no more than con men hiding behind the cross.

Of course this isn't true. Thousands of preachers and pastors labor in churches, bringing comfort to the distressed, instruction to the seeker and challenge to the complacent. They don't steal from church coffers, have affairs, cheat on their income tax, break traffic laws or violate the commandments. Those men and women are moral heroes, not Jack, Lyndon, Richard, Jimmy, Ron, George or Bill.

But I don't want to put undue pressure on preachers -- God knows their membership will do that for me. Because my heroes are folks I have known in churches. People like Jim, the elderly man who loved all the children in church and always had a stick of gum hiding in his suit pockets for them, even for my infant daughter. She can chew it later, he'd say with a twinkle in his eye.

Or "Poppa," who puttered about his house singing snatches of hymns I'd never heard and who would always answer the question, "How are you?" with "No room to complain," even in the hospital during what proved to be his last stay.

Or Joe, who challenged me gently when he disagreed with me but always supported his pastor and his church.

Or Willie, who loved her church and her pastor and looked forward to having me drop by so she would have an outlet for the hospitality that was part of her nature.

I could cite lots of others, some now awaiting the Resurrection, some still laboring in the fields of the Master. But they are all ordinary people doing their dead-level best to be the kind of people Christ called them to be -- servants who love God and their neighbors as themselves. They struggle and sometimes fail but always look to their faith and the believing community for strength and redemption.

You want your president to set the moral standard for the nation? Fine. Me, I think I'll stick with a better cloud of witnesses.

Michael O'Connor is news editor for the Reporter-News and is an ordained United Methodist minister. He can be reached at oconnorm@abinews.com.