Apart from the mechanically robotic movements and sound of her voice grating like fingernails screeching on a blackboard, for a great many people simply watching Ms. Clinton trying to make speeches cannot but remind of C. H. Spurgeon’s opinion of women preachers, which he compared to a dog taught to walk upright on its hind legs. He said he was not surprised the dog taught to perform in such an unnatural manner did this badly; he was surprised the dog would do so at all.

Well, it’s not like Ms. Clinton is auditioning for some important role in a Hollywood film. Were that the case she wouldn’t stand a chance. No, she is auditioning for the most important role in our government, something that seems to set the bar considerably lower than the standard required for a part in a Hollywood film.

But in all fairness, few if any politicians could meet the standards of Hollywood when it comes to acting a part, Fred Thompson being an aberration. But even he proved a better actor than a politician. We know they are all actors, hypocrites in the worst sense of the word, but I can’t help wishing they had to meet Hollywood standards for their performances. There is not one single politician that is Oscar material for their performance onstage. And the worst performances are those in which some politician having been caught out for malfeasance protests their innocence! “I did not have sex with that woman.” A real classic. But how about “Read my lips. No new taxes.” In both cases, the performance failed to meet Hollywood standards. However, when it comes to just plain bad performances, the present occupant of the Oval Office and Ms. Clinton are in a class of their own plumbing new depths of badness as actors. “The play is the thing.” But politicians in general are woefully deficient of talent performing their parts in the play, and not a few of us wish they would literally break a leg when they come onstage to perform.

That showbiz phrase always calls to mind my mother’s brief stint as a chorus girl. She fell off the stage while performing a routine and did break a leg; and that seemed to have damped her enthusiasm to continue trying to make it to Radio City Music Hall as a Rockette, though she never lost her love for stage and screen. It must have been in the genes I suppose, since my maternal grandparents had worked in a circus and grandad played the role of a gambler in a silent film made in Bakersfield. He had the talent, the presence and charisma to really make it big in Hollywood, but as he explained it he felt God had called him to be a preacher instead. God’s gain was Hollywood’s loss I suppose, but there are times when I wonder?

I do find belief much easier than unbelief though I do not believe in prayer, the divinity of Jesus or the resurrection; I do not believe the Bible to be the literal word of God or any deity is demanding worship of me any more than the parent demands worship from their child. Demanding obedience for the sake of the child’s welfare yes; worship; no. However, each night I do commune with God and departed loved ones and friends and find this comforting as I fall asleep. But this communing with my heart upon my bed as the Psalmist phrased it, though realizing it may be no more than talking to myself does comfort me and I settle for this.

There are, however, the stubborn facts that get in the way of unbelief. Unlike UFOs for example where we don’t have the real thing parking on the lawn in D.C. to silence naysayers, there are the facts of the paranormal that must be taken into consideration when it comes to matters of various beliefs of a supernatural nature. If there are deities of whatever description, I assume the ancient mythologies are attempts to make the thoughts of such deities known to us. I credit the early chapters of Genesis as such an attempt to make known what would otherwise be unknown to us. I also credit some prophets of the Bible, since Psi has been in abundant evidence throughout human history, those things totally inexplicable otherwise. And for me faith remains the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.

Tragically for humankind, too often are beliefs forced on others by those that would pervert their beliefs into “knowledge.” I remain of the opinion God is quite capable of speaking to me without any intermediary, that God by whatever description does not have to rely on any human instrumentality though there may be some few as with all children who better fulfill his expectations than others, children that can be relied on for their obedience rather than willful disobedience. And some are better listeners to their parents than others.

As a classroom teacher, I knew my lesson wasn’t getting through if students were not responding with questions, the right kinds of questions that would tell me I had the attention of my students; that they were really listening and thinking about what I was trying to teach them. And, I suppose, God has the same thing in mind while trying to teach any of us, hoping we will ask the right questions; that we are really paying attention and thinking about what is being taught.

However, unlike those performing on the stage of America, and performing very badly like Ms. Clinton, you can’t substitute a lack of talent for the real thing, and hypocrites that try to fool God that they are paying attention just aren’t going to make the “final cut” in my opinion.