Having returned from listening to John McCain at the Aspen Institute, I am filled with more hope about the future than I thought I would be. Not so much because of what Senator McCain had to say. Though to be honest, he was remarkably impressive even to a guy who has lost much of the enthusiasm that I felt for him when he was “the maverick senator from Arizona”, and not the GOP candidate for President.

What excited me was the level of questions from the audience. They overwhelmingly avoided either rah-rah silliness from the Republicans in the tent or any hostility or disrespect from the Democrats. It really was the kind of the Civil Forum that Rev. Rick Warren is hosting this Saturday night at Saddleback Church, at which Barack Obama and John McCain will talk together, not debate each other – at least that’s the plan. And it got me thinking about the kind of questions that I would ask both candidates.
There are lots of questions that beliefnet.com community members are posting right now which they would pose to one of the candidates, and they are worth checking out. But the questions which could be asked of both candidates, strike me as least likely to produce more meaningless and polarizing debate, and most likely to generate the conversations about the future of our nation and this planet, which we need to have regardless of who get elected in November.
So here are the questions that I would put to BOTH Senators Obama and McCain on Saturday night, or any other time that I have the chance:
1. What traits or abilities does your adversary possess which you would do well to emulate? How would your presidency reflect your growth in that direction?
2. In what policy areas could your party learn from the opposition? How will you effectively integrate that learning into the policies of your administration?
3. Each of you has declared yourselves as Christians. What teaching of Jesus, or other biblical passage, would you bear in mind as you began each day in the Oval office, and why?
4. As you look down the road four and a half years from now, what one accomplishment, in your own mind, would mark your presidency as a success?