I vote for...

I have to admit as a registered republican, I wasn't thrilled about our choices of candidates this year. Wow...shocker!

But the thing is that I'm actually finding myself saying things lately like "He's growing on me" or " Ya know, I like his foreign policy" but the question of faith always remained for me. I have this little fantasy as a practicing Christian that we have someone who shares my religious views in the White House. I know Obama has professed to be a Christian but the whole Jeremiah Wright thing put him back a few steps in every evangelical's book and the fact that he absolutely supports abortion or "a woman's right to choose" and "gay marriage" has my vote going in the other direction.

So when I heard that Pastor Rick Warren was going to interview each of the candidates on "my turf" in a evangelical setting the real Christian in me came out. The competitive "our side better win" "McCain better sock it to 'em" side. Yes, that's what I was thinking. Aren't I spiritual? I was hoping that Pastor Warren would really go for the jugular with Obama and corner him into saying he believes in abortions and gay marriage and then we might find out he's the anti-Christ or at least his running mate Oprah Winfrey is and we could boo and then all go home. Aren't I showing Christ's love?

What I didn't expect was for Mr. Obama to give such an eloquent well thought out and heartfelt interview that almost got me wanting to invite him over to dinner. Man this guy is good. Or is he just a good guy? I mean he talked about his faith so confidently and boldly, said he was saved by Jesus Christ. He admitted his faults and professed that he personally was 100% pro-life but he wanted to give people the choice to make mistakes just like God did in the garden of Eden. He said he was against gay marriage but broke into a very emotional story that almost convinced me that civil unions should be legal. This man was humble, kind and well spoken. He's either totally sincere and really does want to do a great job as president, or he's such a well-oiled machine, rehearsing every syllable that comes out of his mouth 100 times that we wouldn't know the difference.

My point is that I as a Christian voter have to come to my conclusions on who I'm supporting by the issues and what the candidate will be doing to bring on change and move our country forward in a safe and progressive manner. I can't be swayed by one debate because I really think Obama has a better smile than John McCain does. I can't let emotions guide me more than my convictions. I can't vote on who I'd rather have in my living room on game night for the next president of the United States. But sadly I think that is how a lot of young people are voting. Remember when Bill Clinton went on MTV and talked to teens and told them he wore "boxers" not "briefs"? His "cool" factor got him elected. Well maybe we should have been paying more attention to where "his boxers" had been and we wouldn't have gotten ourselves into the nice Monica Lewinski predicament.

So I believe voters need to remember this isn't "class president" and stop trying to vote for the "cool kid". I think McCain reminds me more of the school principal. But after hearing what he had to say and really thinking about his words and his many many anecdotes. I realize he's better prepared for this huge undertaking to be the leader of the free world. I agree with his stands on the issues. I feel that he would work hard to protect our country. So what that he has white hair and won't make a great host on Saturday Night Live? At least we'll still be enjoying our freedom of speech to make our own electoral choices in the future under his leadership.