Who Still Believes in a Place Called Hope?

Back in 1996 when Bill Clinton was President and the United States was held in higher regard around the world, I made a documentary about the Whitewater investigation/witch hunt that was being conducted in Arkansas by Kenneth Starr and his Republican cohorts. At the time, Mike Huckabee, a Republican, was Lieutenant Governor of the State of Arkansas. I admit to having been pretty skeptical about Huckabee, a former Baptist minister whom I had seen speak at Boy's State a few years earlier. He had the whole audience of high school juniors in the palm of his hands, laughing at his jokes, and buying his right-wing agenda. It was frightening and unthinkable that this man could become Governor one day.
But that was exactly what happened. The Whitewater trial (the original investigation being about business dealings with Jim McDougal, not about Whitehouse interns) brought about the removal of office of Jim Guy Tucker, thus allowing Mike Huckabee to become Governor. And there he remained for the next ten years.
I must say I'm very grateful that former Governor Huckabee agreed to sit down with my friend Stephen and I over ten years ago and let us question him for the afternoon. I found him to be very personable and generous with his time and answers. And, surprisingly, I found that much of what he said was hard to disagree with on a fundamental level. I think part of this was the fact that he is good at reading the room and saying the right thing to the right audience. The point being, he wasn't as scary as the figure I first encountered at Boy's State. Later, once he became Governor, I had other opportunities to work with him and again found him to be pleasant and down-to-earth.
Now, Huckabee is running for President as a Republican. It is a pathetic group of individuals to be sure, which no doubt has led to Huckabee's surprising underdog rise despite his paltry fundraising effort. Just last week the New York Times did a special video profile on him. So far his campaign highlights have included denying the theory of evolution and calling abortion a "holocaust" that has led to our need for immigrant workers. I don't think he has a chance of winning the Presidency. But then again, just over ten years ago, I never would have believed he would be the Governor for the following ten years.
Like President Clinton, Mike Huckabee also grew up in a town called Hope.
While we asked several serious questions, we also asked a few fun questions in between to try and catch our subjects off guard and keep them from giving boring political speeches. For example, we asked Mr. Huckabee who was his favorite Beatle. His answer, fellow bass player Paul. For this question, we asked him, "If you were to become President, and the U.S. was attacked by aliens from another planet, what would you do?" This was his answer:

So, you heard it here first, friends. If you vote for Huckabee you may end up being turned into "liquid paper" (?) and he will immediately roll over and surrender. For a Republican, that's a pretty wimpy answer, considering they like to start wars without cause or planning. But it also raises another question for me. Did he think, back in 1996, that one day he might run for President? Or was that only something he thought about later? I bet Bill Clinton knew he would run for President back when he was a little boy. I don't think you run for the presidency on a lark. Unless you're a billionaire. Or Stephen Colbert.