Clinton and Obama: Personal Integrity No Requirement for Presidency

This one will probably be short because I don’t need a lot of space to make this point.

If you haven’t heard of the ‘debate about the debate’ I guess you’re pretty uninterested in national politics at the moment; I can’t say that I blame you – Options C or O look about the same and it looks like neither care for you, your family, or your country. All either want is power - all they want is to rule over every aspect of your life.

On Wednesday’s televised Democrat Debate between Clinton and Obama, there were questions raised about the personal integrity of each candidate. To lesser and greater extents, we got to hear the lie each candidate would have us believe about the weaknesses of his or her own character. And, unashamedly, and I would add indignantly, the candidates are now trying to pass off these character flaws as trivial, nonsense, and worthless to the American politic.

These are the best and brightest we could find?

A person’s character is at the very core of what we want to hear about because it speaks to who and what they are, how they will approach us as the governed, and whether or not they will make the right decisions at the right time for the right reasons. It’s the driving factor behind every single thought, word, and deed.

My mother used to chide me when I was a boy and caught in a lie, “Don’t you want people to believe what you tell them?” It’s a way of saying, “If your word is worthless then you are worthless.”

I’d say both Clinton and Obama are pretty worthless.

And don’t hand me that nonsense that every one lies; an appeal to broad practice is as fallacious as it is insulting. Really – folks jumping off a bridge make it ok to jump from a bridge? Is that how you want to justify the craven’s bald-faced grab for dominion over you, your family, and your country? You want someone like this to represent you to our allies? How seriously do you think our enemies would take us if they knew our leader was simply grandstanding?

How is it that the very folks who claim “Bush lied; soldiers died” can rally around either of these two – liars?

Look; if the candidates are willing to lie to you, to exaggerate their records or positions or well-documented situations, to speak and act hypocritically on the campaign trail, what makes you think they will change and do the right or honorable thing once they are handed the levers of power to the greatest nation in the history of the earth? They are putting their best foot forward now in asking for our votes – if this is their best foot, what do you think lay with their worst?

Someone who lies to you in order to earn your favor does not have your best interests at heart. Someone who exaggerates his or her contribution to something or position speaks of an insecurity that does not have your best interests at heart.

Sure, I want to hear about the issues like capitalism v. socialism, gun-freedom, free speech, free religion, and so on; but before I can trust you to talk about the larger, more important issues that affect billions (because if the U.S. sneezes the entire world catches a cold), I want to know if you’re capable of telling the truth, of meaning what you say when said, and if you’re really – millions of dollars per year aside – just like me. So far, they’ve shown me they can’t and aren’t.

And that tells me neither Clinton nor Obama are qualified to be President. Ever.