Meet “The Flower Man” Asking for Peace in Exchange for Blooms

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Rod Webber, “The Flower Man,” is taking a unique approach to the 2016 presidential campaign, asking for prayers of peace.

Rod Webber looks like your typical rockstar/filmmaker. Clad in a top hat, vest and tie, he has been following candidates from both political parties across the country. He brings each person a bouquet of flowers in exchange for prayers of peace. He says he does it to encourage a change in the way the hopefuls think, though he says peace messages and politics are hard to combine. His travels have been paid for out of his own pocket.

He told Huffington Post: “That silly lovey-dovey notion of peace and love can be a real peace, it can be a lasting peace. It can be a love, a true love, and it can be something that can be brought to the children who will grow up to be future leaders. If anything, this is my cause.”

Last Monday, Jeb Bush and Rick Perry were in Iowa to make some speeches for their campaign. Webber, nicknamed “the flower man,” arrived to surprise them. Perry was in West Des Moines, while Bush was three hours away in Sioux City. The interaction with Rick Perry was pretty disappointing. When approached by Webber, Perry shooed him away with an “I’ll pray for you, brother”. Webber said he and Perry had spoken multiple times, but he suspects that Perry was “embarrassed” to do the prayer in front of the CNN cameras that were present.

Bush, on the other hand, wholeheartedly “embraced” it. Webber approached Bush, who immediately recognized him from New Hampshire last week. Jeb gave him a big hug, and Webber handed over his bouquet of 20 daisies. He said that Bush had “offered 20 prayers last time.” The flowers were “just for [his] wife, but I want you to do a prayer for peace with me right here in person.” After some fumbling around to figure out who would speak the prayer (Webber had wanted the hopeful candidates to be the ones to lead it), Bush led his supporters in a prayer for peace:

I hope this goes well. Dear Lord, we do need a peaceful world, we need American leadership to make sure that there is peace all around the world. I worry about people that are struggling in their lives. A more peaceful world will allow them to rise up, not just in our country, but the rest of the world as well. I say this in favor of my savior, the son of God, Jesus Christ, amen.

The only thing about their interaction that disappointed Webber is that Bush left his bouquet around. However, he drove by car to Ames, where Bush was attending a GOP fundraiser, and presented him with another bouquet.

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