I began the morning by attempting to make contact with the Rev. Jerry Falwell and the Rev. Pat Robertson . From time to time over the years I've enjoyed the challenge of conducting agreeably disagreeable conversations with the two exceedingly conservative evangelical teachers, preachers and broadcast personalities. They are, for the uninitiated, exceedingly successful Christian leaders with a vast following. They have every right to be most proud of their passionate support for their presidential candidate - they provided a considerable amount of the energy, enthusiasm and manpower for President Bush's re-election. They won and it would be understandable and expected that they would reap vast benefits for their support.

What will they get? What will they have in the way of influence on the second term president? Very possibly, not as much as they would have anticipated, but time will tell. It doesn't take too long before the chief executive is in his fifth year in office and looming ahead is a lame duck who could, initially, utilize his mandate and make some significant changes in his cabinet and policies...and who might try to bring more harmony to a divided country. Will it be more of the same or more enlightened leadership? I hope the latter. That may well be the case, because already there are several prominent Republicans who are wishing to be the next GOP presidential candidate and they may well support abortion rights and gun control and a complete separation of Church and State. Karl Rove, the amazingly successful oval office chief political strategist, told reporters a couple of days ago that he believed evangelicals certainly deserved much of the credit for Bush's reelection, and that future candidates should heed the lessons of the 2004 election when it comes to voters' opposition to same-sex marriage. Already though Mr.Bush's most recent remarks on same-sex marriage have infuriated some of the Christian conservative leaders. In an ABC interview, the President said, "I don't think we should deny people rights to a civil union, a legal arrangement, if that's what a state chooses to do." We are living in interesting times...I know, it's an old Chinese expression which, I am told, is actually a curse; "may you live in interesting times."
So, if Fallwell and Robertson don't respond to my telephone calls (and I sincerely hope they do), then how about my calling the Rev.Louis P. Sheldon, the chairman of the Traditional Values Coalition or Bob Jones 111, the president of Bob Jones University in South Carolina, who quite recently urged the president to purge moderates from the White House? He was quoted in the Times as saying, for Mr.Bush's ears, "If you have weaklings around you who do not share your biblical values, shed yourself of them." He added, hardly with love and understanding in mind, "You owe the liberals nothing. They despise you because they despise your Christ." That is ignorant claptrap.
It is going to be a bumpy ride!