"President Bush managed to portray himself as a decisive leader with strong moral values and the best person to lead America during this difficult time, and the electorate went for continuity. Senator Kerry was portrayed by the Republicans as a person of weak convictions who could not be trusted to effectively deal with the threat of terrorism or to provide the American people with security."

this quote is characteristic of comments i have heard lately. so many people are shocked that the number one issue among voters in the recent presidential elections was moral values. frankly, though they are important to me, i was surprised at the level of importance among the nation as a whole myself. but there are a couple of factors that need to be considered that i believe contributed to this outcome.

first, it was not actually president bush, but rather president clinton that began to move the issue of moral values to the forefront of the discussion. before president bush, this country had been dragged through the mud by a playboy president who used the oval office as a pleasure pad. though clinton was a star among the hollywood elite and because of good financial times (which he cannot be given full credit for), the majority of americans disapproved strongly of his behavior and believed that he had made a mockery of the office of the presidency. president bush's determination to bring respectability back to the office of the president through the way he conducted himself was a welcome change to most americans.

secondly, hollywood contributed to the morality debate as more and more movie stars threw their weight into the blue column. for many, the endorsement of kerry by people like p diddy, eminem, and the like was not considered a strong indication that moral values was at the top of the dems list. though i don't think this was the strongest reason, it nevertheless served to add to a comprehensive view of the democratic party as being weak in the morality department.

thirdly, the stark contrasts in the candidates highlighted the moral values argument. in spite of the remarks of the commentator listed above, which is representative of most of the comments by left-leaning writers, it was not the republicans who portrayed kerry as a person of weak convictions, but kerry himself who was responsible for that label. to be sure, republicans magnified the short-comings, but very few people were convinced by kerry's attempts to demonstrate his virtuous side. his weakest moments in the debates were clearly when he began to talk of moral issues and matters of faith. they simply are not kerry's strong suits. couple that with the fact that he and the current mrs. kerry...i mean, heinz-kerry...shacked up before they were married, and a majority of non-urban americans didn't buy it. face it, when it comes to moral values, strong ethics, and a genuine faith in God, george bush cleans kerry's clock.

finally and most importantly for this argument are the moral arguments that were at stake in this election. as one commentator recently said, "america is a tolerant place that works hard to accept differences of views, but when [homosexuals] try and force their lifestyles down our throats and tell us we have to embrace it, we reject that." america is not europe. hollywood and the media have the bully-pulpit and yell the loudest, but apparently, they don't have the majority view. from the supreme court, to the homosexual agenda, to stem cell research and the abortion debate, the cards were stacked too high for the democratic party to overcome. a story in today's louisville courier-journal punctuates the point:

"Renee Baker says she has almost always voted a straight Democratic ticket. But on Tuesday, Baker voted for George W. Bush, U.S. Sen. Jim Bunning and most other Republicans on the ticket, and supported a Kentucky constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage and civil unions. 'When I was raised up, black people voted for Democrats, because they were always geared more to the poor,' said Baker, 31, of Louisville. But over time, she said, she has come to believe the Democrats' reputation on poverty was more hype than reality, and that they are on the wrong side of key moral issues. 'This time, definitely with the marriage amendment, stem-cell research and abortion,' she voted for Republicans, she said.'I'm a Christian. Just really basing it on those values.'

we as a country have not...at least not yet...completely abandoned God and the idea of moral absolutes. admittedly, we seem to be heading in that direction, but for now thanks to people like renee baker, at least we have a leader in the oval office who won't encourage it.