EDITORIAL: The new president’s memory list

Congratulations on winning the 2008 election. Although I don’t know your name as I write this letter, I imagine the whole world will know who you are not long after this edition of the Baptist Standard rolls off the presses and uploads onto the Internet. (At least I pray we’ll know very soon. America certainly doesn’t need another vote-counting fiasco like the one we endured in 2000.)

Why you sought “the highest office in the land” overwhelms my imagination. You endured months of nonstop travel, and that’s the easy part. This campaign reinforced Americans’ assessment that politics is brutal. Although you and your opponent pledged to behave otherwise, both of you succumbed to the seduction of fear-mongering and negativity. Folks wondered how either of you could weather such withering attacks. But as one who sometimes comes under public criticism, I know your wives and children suffered much worse than either of you. While I can understand why a candidate would want to be president, I can’t comprehend the calculus of determining if the family cost is worth the campaign.

Still, I’m grateful to you and your opponent for seeking the presidency. For better or worse, our Constitution mandates we elect a president. We might as well choose from among people of character, goodwill, intelligence and curiosity, who love our nation, desire what’s best for the common good and understand the United States’ place in the world. Those characteristics describe both of you, although they seemed more accurate at the beginning of the campaign than at the end.

You will assume your new office in 11 weeks. I ask that you keep at least three things in mind:

• You are a man and not God. This request may seem strange, but remember what Lord Acton said: “Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.” Resist the gravitational pull toward corruption. Ignore the sycophants who only tell you what they think you want to hear, and listen to your wife and close friends who will tell you the truth. Refuse to equate yourself with your powerful position, realizing you can—and will—make mistakes, and consequences will be grave.

• People are praying for you. All Americans of goodwill want you to succeed, no matter how we voted. We know the only way for our country to thrive is for you to govern wisely and well. So, on your brightest days and in your darkest nights, never forget that the faithful prayers of a nation are interceding on your behalf. You may be lonely there at the top, but you will not be alone.

• You will govern best if you govern from the center. Americans are sick of politics of fear and division and contrast. It ran its course; it failed. Oh, it sometimes worked in the short run, like during a tight election. But the legacy of dividers and fear-mongers is abysmal. That’s because Americans aren’t like that. Most of us have friends across the political spectrum. We differ on ideology, but we unite around common concern and genuine affection. We realize what we hold in common is far greater than that which would divide us. And so, at the personal level, we work together for the greater good.

I know this sounds simplistic, but we hunger for a leader who will live and work like that on a national scale. Leaders of your party will beg you and leaders of the opposition party will bait you to govern by division. They don’t represent normal Americans. We want you to chart a course that transcends partisanship and disavows division. Hold up a fair, common-sense plan for fixing our problems, and then hold the rest of government, including your administration as well as Congress, accountable for joining you. Americans will “have your back.” We’ll support you if you call us together and lead us without regard to race, religion, class, gender or geography.