I got into it on Friday with a guy on Facebook who is upset that Scott Walker won't "take a stand" on evolution. This, he says, shows that he is not ready for leadership. I suppose he might feel the same way about Walker's disinclination to deal with the burning issue of the day as posed to him in a Washington Post questionnaire: Is Barack Obama a Christian? Or this one: Does Barack Obama love America?
Walker declined to answer either question when they were shoved in his face by the media in recent days, and because he declined to answer, the media are in a frenzy and would-be Walker supporters are reaching for sharp objects. NBC's Chuck Todd, who wouldn't know substance if it smacked him in the face, declared on Twitter that it seems Walker is out to "redefine the unforced error."
You've got to step up! You've got to take a stand! This isn't leadership!
Stop. People seriously need to get a grip. Walker is doing something very important, not just for his own prospective presidential candidacy but for the American political system in general. Indeed, he is taking a stand, just not the one the media want to force him to take for their own purposes.
Back to my guy on Facebook, I suggested to him that he check out Luke 20:1-8. Here, religious authorities demanded that Jesus tell them the authority under which he taught and healed. Jesus responds by asking them a question: Was the baptism practiced by John from God or from men? The religious authorities realized that Jesus had done them one better at their own game. If they said it was from God, then Jesus would ask them why they didn't believe it. If they said it was from men, John's supporters would go nuts. So they claimed they didn't know.
Jesus knew He had them, and He likewise refused to answer their question. It's not that He couldn't have. Clearly His authority was from God and He had every right to point that out. But Jesus was not willing to let His adversaries dictate the time or the circumstances in which He would have to answer such questions. He knew their question was a trap, and He wasn't going to walk into it. He would take His stand, if you like, at a time and under the circumstances and in a manner of His choosing - not theirs.
So I told the guy this, and he sort of proved he wasn't really being serious by asking, "Are you putting Scott Walker on the same level with Jesus?"
Of course not. I'm saying Jesus set the example for what to do when people try to trap you with disingenuous questions, and Walker very wisely followed that example. The Beltway media are in an uproar right now because that's what they were always going to do. This was a setup from the beginning. They were either going to go ballistic over the answer Walker gave, or they were going to go ballistic because he refused to give one.
The stand Walker is taking is simply this: In a campaign for the presidency, we're going to talk about things that are actually relevant to the presidency. The president doesn't do anything to advance or set back belief in evolution, creation or whatever. The president isn't in the business of making declarations about other people's faith or love of country. That's not his job. It's to budget, tax, manage people, ensure national security, handle relations with foreign nations, command the military, etc.
Walker recognizes that the political media are basically a bunch of blithering fools who aren't prepared to talk about any of this, and prefer instead to shout questions at him about irrelevant nonsense. And he's not taking the bait. You can look at his governing record in Wisconsin, and you can assess the policy proposals he'll offer during the course of this campaign assuming he does in fact run. But you can't get him to talk about trivia the media throw out there as traps. If they want to scream because he's not going there, let them scream.
The media will beat up Scott Walker no matter what he does. He can't prevent that from happening, but he can prevent them from doing it on their terms - which is what he would be allowing if he answered all their stupid questions.
And if you're a conservative who is upset because Walker won't "take a stand" on evolution of whatever else, relax. He's taken a stand on something far more important here, and he's refusing to play the game of people whose only agenda is the election of Hillary Clinton. If you can't understand why that's smart, then you need to brush up on what the president of the United States actually does.
