I heard on the radio yesterday that Mitt Romney planned to give a speech addressing questions about his faith and his candidacy. I assumed he planned to set straight what Mormons believe, and how it compares with other Christian faiths. As it turned out he did no such thing, but I think what he did say had much more bearing on the situation.
Romney pointed out that he was running as an American, not as a member of any particular faith. Furthermore, he declared that listing off doctrinal details would be tantamount to a religious test for candidacy, which the Founding Fathers sought to prevent.
As for Romney's personal beliefs, he did firmly state his conviction that Jesus Christ is the Son of God and the Savior of the world, and he mentioned many of his values that he believes most Americans share. He assured his audience that he would not favor one particular religion as president, but he declared that we should acknowledge our Creator and our duty to him in government and public affairs - basically we are a nation under God, and we need all the reminders we can get that "in God we trust."
The one (minor) issue I have with the speech is his statement that when he takes the oath of office (notice "when" not "if" - ever the optimist, eh?), "that oath becomes [his] highest promise to God." As important as that oath is, it doesn't outweigh the commitments to follow Christ's example and to be the best spouse and parent one can be. I'm not saying a president should skip a summit because his daughter has a soccer game, but when anyone is balancing their numerous important roles in life, we should keep in mind that decisions affecting our character and family will have more eternal impact than anything else we might do, even as president.
If you want to know more about the speech, CNN wrote a good breakdown of it, or you can listen to it at Mitt's website (about 3 minutes of the 10 is an intro by Bush Sr - apparently he's hosting candidates from both sides at his presidential library). There are also excerpts by CNN or on YouTube, each totaling about five minutes. Interesting that CNN focuses more on the political and historical aspects of the speech, while the version I found on YouTube includes Romney's list of values Mormons share with most other Americans.
Frankly, I think the latter is what most people are concerned about when they say they won't vote for a Mormon. Since they consider Mormonism mysterious and different from their own faith, I think they worry that a Mormon president would not demonstrate the same values when making major decisions. I suspect Romney's biggest hurdle will be convincing those people that deep down he values the same basic things they do, and will act accordingly as president.
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3 comments:
I just finished watching it, too (on MSNBC's website). It was 18 minutes in length, so I am not sure why Mitt's website only has a video that is 10 minutes. Anyways, I was afraid it was going to be a speech about polygamy or baptisms for the dead. I was pleasantly relieved that he avoided the topic of individual practices of Mormonism. It was a good point that if he had stooped to that level while running for an office, he would actually be going against the Constitution.
He did a good job of stating his individual beliefs in God as well as standing up for tolerance of other beliefs. Overall, I think it was an excellent speech, and I have read mostly good reviews.
Good analysis; you will save me the trouble in my own blog. :)
I didn't listen to the entire speech; I listened more to the NPR commentary on it, which was pretty good. They couldn't help but create a stark contrast to Kennedy's speech, which aimed at assuring both Protestants and other Americans that his religious views would not "taint" his decisions. He was aiming at an audience weary of the witch-hunts of the McCarthy era and looking to keep government seperate from fanaticism (Papal religious or otherwise).
On the other hand, Romney has to essentially do the opposite to win his primary--he has to assure his core voters (conservative Christians) that his values match theirs. The he indeed believes in Jesus Christ and that this firm moral compass will guide his actions. (NPR commented on his conviction about Jesus Christ with some wonderment--again they missed the fundamental point that Protestant Christians have been brainwashed to think we have really outlandish ideas.) It was a very good speech. He speaks well and sounds polished, educated, smart. Again, a nice contrast to . . . well the current leader of the free world.
I think what is going to happen is that conservative Christians are going to rally behind Huckabee (Baptist minister; which, to me, if Mormonism is a yellow flag for electing somebody, this is a RED flag. I think I door knocked one too many of these guys!); fiscally conservative social liberals will back Guliani and moderate Conservatives (many of whom don't actually vote in the primary) will back Romney. The result will be that whoever wins the primary will take a very fractured party into the last several months of campaigning and the Democrats will take a narrow majority at the polls next November with Hillary Clinton.
I think I'm voting for Barack Obama. Or maybe Mitt Romney. Even if neither of them win the primary. If it is between Hillary and Rudy, I couldn't even in good conscience throw a dart.
Sorry about the comment/post. Like I said, most of these thoughts were rolling around in my head anyway. You've saved me a more lengthy post.
I also thought this was a great speech. However the one thing I felt missing was acknowledgment of the faithless or non-religious elements of our society, some of who are also against Romney's candidacy. I guess he just wanted to focus on conservative Republicans.
While he's handled this issue quite well I'm not sure about his changing stances in other areas. I was initially very interested in his candidacy because I felt a conservative governor of a very liberal state (every single MA member of Congress, House and Senate, is a Democrat) would bring some balance to the force, so to speak. But now to win the primary he feels he's gotta pull a Karl Rove and act like only the Evangelical vote matters.
Perhaps flip-flops are actually made in MA not Florida.
And I'm so happy to see Obama pulling ahead of Clinton in certain important polls...
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