Such a person would find a warm reception in the American electorate. John Ashcroft, he'd win the presidency. Robertson believes the nation's prosperity clouds the public's concern about our moral direction, and especially that of children. Ashcroft, who is a minister's son and has written a book about the values instilled in him by his late father, was the commencement speaker at Robertson's Regent University. He seemed to be road-testing campaign themes.
Moral utterances are tricky.
Ashcroft's commencement address had a little politics in it and some concern about drug use among the young, but it mostly addressed the importance of developing good character and virtue. An appeal to an unchanging standard by which morality and immorality, right and wrong, are measured is not always the first thing one notices in contemporary political discourse. Not many can deliver such a message without inviting an investigation of their own moral shortcomings. Like Jimmy Carter, Ashcroft appears to have the right message at the right time. The baby boomers like to feel guilty, but they don't want to feel shame.