Reasons Huckabee is a good choice

I was intrigued by Cynthia Tucker's column "Huckabee is wrong choice for president - and vice president."

Hers was an unintended endorsement of Huckabee to anyone who prefers sincerity to cynicism, contrary to her own viewpoint. She compared Huckabee unfavorably to Dick Cheney who she said "merely subverted the U.S. Constitution" and "stated support for" a constitutional anti-abortion amendment but never "pushed for it."

(Subversion and insincerity are qualities we have come to expect from our political leaders.)

She also suggested she felt more comfortable with Karl Rove, who resigned his White House post amid allegations of perjury and other indiscretions and "plotted" to maintain political support by "scapegoating" gays and lesbians.

Huckabee, on the other hand, has an "authentic persona," "sincerity," a "core of decency," a "conservatism more compassionate than that of George Bush," "empathy for the poor," and "forbearance toward illegal immigrants." To her credit, she considers all of these as positive points. So why does Tucker deem Huckabee unfit to be president (or vice president with a possibility of becoming president)?

First she accuses him of openly proposing to work within our Founding Fathers' prescribed framework to amend (or "rewrite," in her terminology) the Constitution to ban gay marriages and abortions. That is the way it is supposed to be done, giving everyone an opportunity to be involved in the process.

She also finds Huckabee's strongly held, often-stated desire to operate in a manner consistent with God's standards an anathema.

Tucker is supremely offended by the notion that anyone could presume to know something about what God wants of us. Instead, she should be thrilled that this sincere, decent, compassionate, empathetic candidate for an impossibly demanding and influential office even cares what God thinks. We would be better served if everyone in government had such a concern.

Jeff Mattson

Glen Ellyn