The presidential campaigns have begun already, eighteen months before the next election on November 6, 2012. Can we handle eighteeen months of speeches, commercials, debates and news reports?

When candidates traveled by rail and made speeches off the back of trains, it didn’t take eighteen months. So why, with so many ways to effectively communicate, do we have to start so early? To raise money? I suppose. It takes a lot of money to run for office. To win in the primaries? The Iowa caucuses are next February, only nine months away. Fail there and your chances are slim. To get your message out? Perhaps. Most of the messages we will get will be trash the other candidates. That shouldn’t be too hard to accomplish. Everyone’s got something in their closet. At least til it comes out. To create jobs? It takes a lot of people to run a campaign. Here’s a chance to demonstrate you bring unemployment down!

We should spend eighteen months praying for our country and our leaders, both present and future. Up against so much we can’t control, from the economy to terrorism, unemployment to foreclosures, problems in the classroom to health problems in our families, we certainly could use some divine intervention. Actually, this might take longer than eighteen months.