He leads most polls of Republicans for the 2008 presidential
primaries, but former New York City Mayor Rudolph Giuliani
nevertheless has had the strength of his evangelical support
questioned in part because of his three marriages and his
“friendship” with now-wife Judith Nathan, while he was still
married to Donna Hanover.
That’s not so much the case, though, for former House Speaker
Newt Gingrich, who currently enjoys a reputation as the GOP’s
“ideas” man, with many hoping he will decide to run for president
next year.
Among the chief issues Gingrich hits upon these days are also
the foundation for his book released in October, Rediscovering
God in America: Reflections on the Role of Faith in Our Nation’s
History and Future. These social and faith issues in his
speeches draw robust applause, undoubtedly from a strong Christian
presence in his audiences.
But like Giuliani, Gingrich’s unfaithfulness to at least one of
his former wives is commonly known. Both of their personal
backgrounds cause unease among social conservatives, yet apparently
Gingrich is excused a bit more because of his conservatism on
abortion, same-sex marriage, and other family issues, which
Giuliani lacks.
Last week Dr. James Dobson, head of the “Focus on the Family”
ministry (and host of its radio broadcast) and one of the
evangelicals’ respected leaders, took a run at getting Gingrich on
the record about his adultery. The result was not sobbing
contrition, but for a power figure with the requisite ego for
success in American politics, Gingrich’s answers were noticeably
remorseful — and about as humble as you could expect someone like
him to get.
“That’s a very painful topic,” Gingrich told Dobson on Friday’s
radio program. “And I confess that directly to you. It has some
elements that I’m not in any way proud of.”
Dobson informed his audience that he had an earlier conversation
with the former speaker in which he expressed “great anguish” over
his own behavior. The Christian psychologist seemed to want to
extract similar emotion from Gingrich on the air, but instead got a
composed admission marked by a denial that it had any equivalency
with the actions of President Clinton towards former White House
intern Monica Lewinsky.
“The president of the United States got in trouble for
committing a felony in front of a sitting federal judge,” Gingrich
explained. “I drew a line in my mind that said, ‘Even though I run
the risk of being deeply embarrassed, and even though at a purely
personal level I am not rendering judgment on another human being,
as a leader of the government trying to uphold the rule of law, I
have no choice except to move forward and say that you cannot
accept…perjury in your highest officials.’”
Yet Dobson pressed him on the fact that his three marriages and
extramarital affair — “maybe more than one” (which Gingrich did
not help clarify) — had disappointed his supporters. Gingrich
explained somewhat the circumstances surrounding the failure of his
first two marriages, but also added there were elements in his life
that he wanted to caution his children and grandchildren not to
follow him on.
“There were time when I was praying and when I felt I was doing
things that were wrong,” Gingrich said. “But I was still doing
them. I look back on those as periods of weakness and
periods…that I’m not proud of.”
Whether intentionally or not, it is there where Gingrich
addressed the malady that every born-again Christian comprehends:
that sin is the human sickness; guilt and death are the penalty;
and confession, repentance and trust in Jesus Christ are the
remedy. One no less than the Apostle Paul said as much, in Romans
7:23-25:
“But I see another law in my members, warring against
the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of
sin which is in my members. O wretched man that I am! Who will
deliver me from this body of death? I thank God — through Jesus
Christ our Lord!”
Contrary to popular perception, realistic Christians don’t expect
perfection from their elected leaders. But recognition of past sins
and regret over them could go a long way towards making Gingrich,
should he choose to enter the race, the evangelicals’ candidate for
2008. By the time fall comes around — after a summer of John
McCain, Mitt Romney and Giuliani relentlessly pounding the campaign
trail — conservatives might thirst for one of their own to finally
enter the race.
And Gingrich’s interview with Dobson last week may have taken a
big issue off the table — one that could remove the stumbling
block he might have when compared to Giuliani.
