Obama, McCain, and Acts of Compromise

I’ve recently come across several blog entries that raise the question “Can a Christian, in good conscience, vote for Barack Obama?” with the main reason for the question being Obama’s pro-choice stance.

This is certainly an important issue, especially seeing as how Obama is gaining an increasing amount of support and acclaim from Christian circles. How can Christians, a significant portion of whom see abortion as nothing short of murder, support a presidential candidate who is very open about his pro-choice stance? The implication seems to be that, in some way, Christians who intend to vote for Obama are making a serious moral compromise that others find unconscionable.

This caused some discussion between Renae and I, as we seek to understand the issues more fully and prepare to vote in the coming months. We want to make our vote “count,” and we want to ensure that we are making the most informed decision possible, whatever that decision might be. But as we thought about it, we came to realization that politics, in any form, involves compromise.

While politics, and the actions of political leaders, are certainly informed and shaped by idealistic absolutes that can lead to intense disagreement — e.g., the constant antagonism between conservatives and liberals, Republicans and Democrats — no political process can survive without some measure of give and take. Especially when you’re dealing with democratic system.

Put simply, there is no perfect candidate available, not for any political office, and there never will be. At some point, your candidate of choice will “let you down” by supporting some issue or stance that, for whatever reason, you are opposed to. Or perhaps they’ll have some character flaw or lifestyle choice that will just drive you crazy, and yet you choose to stick by them.

To that end, I wish to pose this question to those folks who are wondering how Christians can compromise in order to vote for Obama: what compromises, moral or otherwise, are you willing to make by voting for McCain (or someone who is not Obama)?

Certainly there are things about McCain with which you disagree, perhaps even vehemently. If you’ll recall, McCain has received flak from conservative pundits and leaders due to his stances on immigration, terrorism, tax cuts, stem cell research, and so on. Or maybe there are things about his personal life that you find worrisome and troubling, but are willing to overlook. What are they, and how or why do you justify overlooking them?

And there’s a flipside to this question: are there aspects of Obama’s campaign that, if looked at honestly, you can appreciate? Or perhaps there are aspects to his character that you respect. If that’s true, what are you willing to compromise or give up by not voting for Obama?