The results of the USA TODAY/Gallup 2012 poll are in. The most admired American man and woman in America are Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton. For Hillary it’s her 16th honor in that position. In Obama’s case, his percentage of admirers doubled from last year. Billy Graham and Pope Benedict XVI only managed a four-way tie for third with George W. Bush and Mitt Romney. Political parties aside, these choices say volumes about the moral state of America. It’s not my deliberate intention to dis either individual, but to reflect on why Barack and Hillary are the choice of millions of adoring citizens.
There are many factors influencing peoples’ selection, such as the amount of news coverage a person gets. But setting all that aside, think of what Obama and Clinton have in common. Both are unrepentant political liberals who owe their souls to socialistic constituencies. Both favor abortion on demand at taxpayers’ expense. Neither has an active religious faith that is expressed overtly. They call themselves “Christians,” but that designation is more categorical than theological.
There is something to admire about each: Obama as the first African-American President; and Clinton for surviving a disastrous marriage to William Jefferson. They have equally overcome great odds to make it to the top of the political arena, but neither conveys any biblical moral urgency to abide by Christian truths. As such, I coudn’t put either at the top of any list of honorees. Of greater concern is that the moral (or should I say immoral, at least with reference to abortion) beliefs they hold are “admired” by the majority of Americans. Perhaps we should not just be concerned about who Obama and Clinton have become, but what America has become. We are a nation of admirers of all things ungodly and that is a death knell for our spiritual future.
