Father Jim Williams speaks to throng at Obama fundraiser at the Gate House on Mackinac Island. Conservative Mackinac Island Ablaze for Obama as Elites Throng Fundraiser
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The two wealthy guys were talking at the Mackinac Island Medical Center fundraiser at the Grand Hotel.
"You know, the country is on fire," I overheard one guy say as I stood on the other side of a massive post. "Yes, I know," said the other, adding: "I voted twice for George Bush and it was the worst mistake of my life." The other responded, "I only voted for him once."
Reporters are naturally curious and, eavesdropping is part of the job, so I made mental note of this curious conversation, especially in light of the setting and the people involved.
One of the more heavily Republican enclaves in the state of Michigan, Mackinac Island you would expect would be the last place for such a conversational exchange.
So, imagine my surprise when the local Town Crier weekly newspaper had a half-page ad "JOIN US!" issuing a public invitation to an "ObamaRama" at the Gate House of the Grand on Monday, Aug. 25.
You could expect a name like former Democratic Member of Congress J. Bob Traxler and his wife Jeannie to be signatories on the ad, but the identity of many of the rest of the 140 signers must have been a shock to the conservative establishment.
(MyBayCity Photo by Dave Rogers)
Signers included West Bluff icons and moneyed aristocrats from around the Midwest, dozens who have Obama signs in their manicured front lawns.
And, it wasn't just the rich folks sporting Obama '08 signs; shacks in the hinterlands near British Landing also were decorated with the Democratic candidate's promotional material.
In fact, the only campaign signs in evidence, most of them being on sumptuous homes the island is famous for, were those for Obama.
Any McCain supporters were either on remote parts of the famed turtle-shaped vacation spot or were awaiting the Republic convention to put out their signs.
After all, Mackinac and the Grand Hotel are famous in Republican history, having been the scene of the famous 1947 GOP Policy Conference. A historical marker on the hill approaching the Grand Hotel proclaims the hotel's political bona fides as a wellspring of Republican political strategy.
For nearly three decades, the island and the Grand has hosted the prestigious Mackinac Republican Leadership Conference. When you say Mackinac Island, you think Republican headquarters. The Grand has hosted about two dozen Presidential candidates and the late President Gerald Ford even knocked around a few tennis balls on the hotel's venerable clay courts.
But at the foot of the storied hill, in the Grand-owned Gate House, the strangest assemblage of political bedfellows was gathering.
"There's one of Chicago's biggest Republicans," an astute observer pointed out. The crowd also included Mayor Margaret Doud and other icons of island politics of every ideological stripe.
I had only heard of Father Jim Williams the previous day when he was heralded as the ecumenical Catholic priest who, as pastor of St. Anne on Mackinac, established himself as a leading community figure. He is now retired but still serves St. Ignatius Loyola in St. Ignace.
If the appelation "beloved" is applied to anyone it would be to Father Jim. Member of the Mackinac Island Park Commission, friend to both Gov. Jennifer Granholm and former Gov. John Engler, Father Jim was honored for his contributions to the community a few years ago by the Mackinac Island Community Foundation.
When Fr. Williams speaks, people listen, and he is a spellbinder. The crowd numbering hundreds at the Gate House, Democrats and Republicans, conservatives and liberals, gays and straights, blacks and whites and native Americans, stood on tiptoes to hear him and take pictures.
Maybe they didn't care that much about politics; maybe they were there just to hear Father Jim, but lots of folks were there at the ObamaRama. Does it tell us anything about the prospects for the election, maybe, maybe not.
Caught flatfooted without my notepad, I was like the reporters at Abraham Lincoln's 1857 speech at the Republican State Convention in Springfield, Illinois, so overcome by the import of the words that they failed to take notes.
The gist of Fr. Williams talk was that this election, like that of John F. Kennedy in 1960, is so important that there is no holding back, even for a priest.
We are in a series of crises, economic and international tops among them, he said. The nation has lost its way and must come back together for survival. The old politics of attack and destroy are no longer a valid or acceptable approach.
He noted that he had never endorsed a political candidate before but now he is of necessity recommending Barack Obama in the interest of the welfare of the nation.
Father Jim recalled being a student at the University of Michigan in 1960 when JFK was scheduled to speak in front of the Michigan Union about 10 p.m. one night. Midnight came and no Kennedy, 1 a.m., 2 a.m. the same. The supporters, liberal students, had faded away for their dorms by the time Kennedy appeared about 2:30 a.m.
Jim Williams, college student, was there, along with mainly conservatives, members of the Young Republicans and Young Americans for Freedom, hanging in trees for a chance to heckle the Democratic candidate, waving Nixon signs.
"I'm glad you're showing an interest in politics," Kennedy said, ignoring the protests.
It was that historic night, in front of the Michigan Union in Ann Arbor, that John Fitzgerald Kennedy launched the Peace Corps, recalled Fr. Williams:
"Before he was done the students who had been there only to heckle him were cheering like mad for the idea of the Peace Corps."
And, of course, Kennedy who had the ability to turn around a hostile crowd with a few kind words, went on to win the Presidency.
Jim Williams went on to the Marine Corps and to a long career as a Catholic priest, including 15 years at St. Anne on Mackinac Island.
The lesson: Common sense, courteous respect for the views of others, and good ideas, are bi-partisan winning strategies. The nation deserves no less.###
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