Say What?

 David Alan Black 

Poor guy. He really tries, but loquaciousness is just not his forte. Witness:

“Rarely is the question asked: is our children learning?” (Florence, SC, Jan. 11, 2000).

“Actually, I—this may sound a little West Texan to you, but I like it. When I’m talking about—when I’m talking about myself, and when he’s talking about myself, all of us are talking about me” (Hardball, MSNBC, May 31, 2000).

“Laura and I really don’t realize how bright our children is sometime until we get an objective analysis” (Meet the Press, April 15, 2000).

“We want our teachers to be trained so they can meet the obligations; their obligations as teachers. We want them to know how to teach the science of reading. In order to make sure there’s not this kind of federal cufflink” (Fritsche Middle School, Milwaukee, March 30, 2000).

“I understand small business growth. I was one” (New York Daily News, Feb. 19, 2000).

“I’ve changed my style somewhat, as you know. I’m less, I pontificate less, although it may be hard to tell it from this show. And I’m more interacting with people” (Meet The Press, Feb. 13, 2000).

“They said, ‘You know, this issue doesn’t seem to resignate with the people.’ And I said, you know something? Whether it resignates or not doesn’t matter to me, because I stand for doing what’s the right thing, and what the right thing is hearing the voices of people who work” (Portland, Ore., Oct. 31, 2000).

“I know how hard it is for you to put food on your family” (Greater Nashua, N.H., Chamber of Commerce, Jan. 27, 2000).

The speaker, of course, is President Bush, who yesterday finally offered a statement via a spokesman about Alabama Chief Justice Roy Moore, who refused to follow an unconstitutional federal court order to remove a Ten Commandments monument from his state judicial building’s rotunda.

According to World Net Daily, White House spokesman Scott McClellan said, “Well, Les, I think that we’ve addressed this issue. One, we need to respect our laws. Two, the courts have ruled that in certain circumstances it is OK to display the Ten Commandments, and in other circumstances, the courts have ruled that it’s not OK. But the president believes that we must respect our laws. There is an appeals process that can be followed if you disagree with those rulings, and that’s where things are.” This in response to the question: “Scott, does the president in any way support the censorship of the Ten Commandments in Alabama?”

Clear as a Los Angeles sunset.

Several years ago I ran across a tribute to Spurgeon, that great Baptist preacher of London. It said, “The only colours which Mr. Spurgeon recognized were either black or white…. With Mr. Spurgeon you were either up or down, in or out, alive or dead. As for middle zones, graded lines, light compounding with shadow in a graceful exercise of give-and-take, he simply looked upon them as heterodox and as implacable enemies of the Metropolitan Tabernacle.”

Our Lord put it this way: “He that is not with me is against me; and he that gathereth not with me scattereth abroad” (Matthew 12:30). Apparently Jesus had no tolerance for halfway stations or obtuse non-committal, for “middle zones” or “graded lines.” He wanted men to be either boiling hot or freezing cold but not lukewarm. Be black or white, He said, but not gray! Alas, our world today is characterized by the climate of compromise, the arrogance of appeasement, the fallacy of peaceful coexistence. It marks the nations and is the predominant characteristic of the Laodicean church.

The Alabama Ten Commandments case calls for a showdown on Carmel between Baal and Yahweh, and what do we get? Light compounding with shadow. Oh well. What can we expect from a man who once uttered such luminous words as these: “I think if you know what you believe, it makes it a lot easier to answer questions. I can’t answer your question” (Reynoldsburg, Ohio, October 4, 2000).

(Note: Bush quotes from “Dubya Says.”)

September 4, 2003

David Alan Black is the editor of www.daveblackonline.com.

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