Not only were they closing two of the major highways, but also the bridges leading into the city.  Throw a couple million more people than usual in to the mix with below freezing temps, and the couch at home quickly gained appeal.  Fortunately, I was able to work from home today (no, not all government workers had the day off).

I did not vote for President Obama, nor do I agree with many of his policies, but I appreciated today nonetheless.  I love the history, formality, and ceremony.  I’m amazed at the smooth transfer of power each time.  President Obama is now my President, and I will faithfully pray for him and his administration.

On a lighter note, as we watched a replay of parts of the inauguration, Micah did his best to spruce up the ceremony while waiting for the next burst of music to begin.  When Elizabeth Alexander read in the Inaugural Poem, “Someone is trying to make music somewhere with a pair of wooden spoons,” Micah was banging away with a pair of wooden spoons on his toy drums.  We were amused.

Me and BBC

Somehow I managed to get myself quoted and pictured in the BBC. There I was, hanging out in the exhibit hall prior to grabbing some lunch. The straw poll voting had just opened a few minutes prior, and would be continuing for another 24 hours. I figured I’d vote, but saw no point in voting prior to hearing all of the 2008 Republican Presidential candidates. At this point we’d only heard 3 of the 8 (now down to 7), and I honestly knew very little about most of them. However, I do know a few people at FRC, and one of them asked me if I’d be willing to vote, just to make sure things were working properly. Wanting to help out, I agreed and cast my vote. When I turned around after submitting the vote, there were multiple TV cameras and a couple reporters. One of them was a reporter from the BBC Online.

As you can tell from the quote the reporter used, I was doing my best to qualify my vote without actually saying I wasn’t prepared to vote. (And yes, I vote more responsibly in actual elections.) Were I to vote now, based solely on the performance at the Briefing, I would vote for Gov. Mike Huckabee. He had far more “electibility” than anything I saw from Fred Thompson this weekend. Huckabee is a superb communicator, and his message this weekend was spot-on. Apparently I wasn’t the only one with that assessment, as he received 51% of the on-site votes in the straw poll (people not at the Briefing were also allowed to vote online). The next closest was Romney at 10%. I think Rick Lowry summed up the reaction to Huckabee’s speech well.

If there is an upside to the fact that this is the longest Presidential campaign race in history, it’s that there’s plenty of time to for candidates to sort themselves out … and for me to do my homework.

Speaker Highlights

The line-up of speakers was impressive, including all of the Republican Presidential candidates. (The Democrat candidates received the same invitation, but understandably none of them attended.) The candidates all said the Right Things for this audience, but they did each have a unique feel. In addition to the candidates, there were plenty of other exceptional speakers. Here are my thoughts on some of them:

• Sen. John McCain: He seemed to read most of his speech, and I felt it started slow. His war stories were very moving, and obviously capture your emotions.
• Sen. Sam Brownback: A very natural speaker, and his convictions were obvious and genuine. He showed plenty of passion, especially considering everyone knew he was dropping out of the race later that day.
• Rep. Tom Tancredo: He was very enjoyable, and had some great sound bites (e.g., “We need a leader because our enemies are psychopaths and our allies are the French.”).
• Sen. Fred Thompson: As I mentioned, his performance was not very memorable. He said many good things regarding judges and Social Security, but didn’t have much of the passion he’s shown in other speeches and debates.
• Rep. Duncan Hunter: A very natural speaker, saying the right things. Among his topics were national defense, the border, and Mt. Solidad (for all you San Diegans out there).
• Rep. Ron Paul: Did a good job explaining many of his positions, since not all of them are conventional ideas. His libertarian views were prevalent, and some very appealing on the surface (do we really need a Dept. of Education?). I also enjoyed his ideas for eliminating incentives for illegal immigrants to come to the US.
• Star Parker: Wow, she was great. I’d never heard her speak previously. She didn’t mince words, and almost preached at times in very plain language. Her passion was contagious.
• Rabbi Daniel Lapin: Always an engaging and insightful speaker. One good quote: “If we ever fall beneath the feet of our enemies, it is because they believe the wrong thing with more faith and conviction than we believe the right.”
• Rick Santorum: It was a bit sad to hear such an eloquent voice of conservatism from the former Senator. Surely he’ll get involved at the national level again some day.
• Gov. Mitt Romney: He was the only speaker that used a teleprompter. Not sure why (or why others didn’t). He’s obviously one of the heavy hitters in the current race, and said many of the right things. He was very detailed in what policies he’d implement, which you obviously want to see, but for some reason the continual “I’ll do such and such” felt too much like growing the government. Maybe I’ll re-read the transcript and see if that’s what he was actually saying, or just the impression I got.
• Ben Stein: He was there to promote his new movie, Expelled. Amusing, as expected, and strongly conservative on the topic.
• Mayor Rudy Giuliani: The opening of his speech was awkward at best, but he picked up steam and hit his stride. I give him credit for coming, given the common thinking that this wasn’t his crowd (as he openly admitted). He gave a speech highlighting his accomplishments in areas he knew were important to conservatives.
• Mark Levin: If you’ve heard him on the radio, you know he doesn’t dance around his words. His speech was equally straight-forward. He opened by commenting on how many of the candidates were invoking Reagan this weekend (most of them did), but when they had the chance in office they didn’t lead like him. He talked about a moral order being the glue that keeps civilized society together (e.g., without a moral order, there is no capitalism). He, along with a handful of other speakers, strongly voiced his opinion that these are not the circumstances under which we want to try producing or going along with a 3rd party candidate: “If we’re not happy with the candidates, it’s our fault.”
• Gov. Mike Huckabee: An excellent communicator, focusing a lot on issues of freedom, family, and faith. He said, “A nation that cannot fuel, feed, or fight [as in manufacturing our own weapons] for itself is no longer free.” One interesting point he made about a fair tax is that it removes the ability to muzzle pastors by threatening tax ramifications. And knowing where many portray him to be in the running, he passionately said, “I don’t ever want expediency, electibility to replace our principles and values.” I’m anxious to get to know him better.
• Judge Robert Bork: I liked a quote he gave from Antonin Scalia, talking about the activism of today’s court: “Day by day this court is designing a Constitution for a country I do not recognize.”

What an energizing, motivating, and informative weekend. My hat goes off to FRC Action for an exceptional conference, and my thanks goes to my wonderful wife for taking care of the little guy all weekend and encouraging me to attend.

Minor disclosure: the precinct inspector and author of the commentary is my mother-in-law.

And what an appropriate phrase for this week. Sure, I’m disappointed in the results of Tuesday’s elections. On the surface, there is plenty of reason for conservatives to be concerned (especially with President Bush’s disappointing responses to the results thus far). But having pondered the results for a few days, I’m still optimistic.

It sure seems that things are cyclical in the political realm, and the results this week lined up almost exactly with historical results from mid-term elections in the 6th year of a president. Looking at ballot initiatives, there were numerous conservative victories, even in areas where Republicans did not win.

But one of the most encouraging things to me is that I don’t believe conservative ideals lost, and had Republicans run with a conservative agenda, I do believe the results would have been different. The majority of elected Republicans over the past couple years have been anything but conservative.

I’ve been reading a book recently called, In the Words of Ronald Reagan, by his son, Michael Reagan. One of the quotes I came across this week was,

So it was our Republican party that gave me a political home. When I signed up for duty, I didn’t have to check my principles at the door. And I soon found out that the desire for victory did not overcome our devotion to ideals. (p. 181) Ronald Reagan at the Republican National Convention, August 15, 1988

Unfortunately, I feel elected Republicans were too busy following irrelevant polls, abandoning the conservative ideals that have brought success in recent years.

So I’ll continue being a conservative, and hoping and praying that we can stick to our values over the next couple years, and that some conservative leaders will rise to the occasion for 2008.

All in all it was an exciting week, especially being in VA with the Senate race here. I’m anxious to see how things play out over the next couple years. I miss having a good source of local politics, such as Rick Albin in G.R., but I haven’t had much time to research the local scene yet.

This is an especially interesting election year since we’re still interested in how things fare in Michigan, but we also are trying to ramp up on the local political scene here in Virginia.

For some reason I think I have more anticipation leading up to election day than things like big sporting events. Maybe it’s because the outcome actually matters. (I’m sure Rachel would tell you I act as if the outcome matters each year when the Red Wings lose in the playoffs.)

Sure, the best person (i.e., the person I’ve voted for ) will not always win, and that can be frustrating and disappointing. But we are blessed to live in this amazing country where we can participate in things like elections.

Only 2 days to go!