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Mitt Misses The Point. Or Does He?
In anticipation of Mitt Romney's clear-the-air-about-the-cult-err-church-I-belong-to speech I thought of the legitimate questions many Americans may have for Mitt. I don't mean the kind of questions that have no bearing on his potential presidency like, "How do you explain the recent shift in the LDS Church's position on the origins of the American Indians?"
Discussion like that is certainly of interest to me but is, in no way, relevant to Romney the candidate. No, instead I have two questions for Romney following yesterday's speech.
1) If your church membership were in jeopardy because of your public position on a national issue being in contrast to that of LDS church leadership, would you change your position to save your membership?
2) Would your statement about the oath of office being your "highest promise to God" trump any promises you made in the Mormon temple?
i think these are the real, legitimate issues of concern with any voter who may have a concern. Anybody who has spent any time following Utah politics is aware of the LDS Church's active, visible and deliberate influence in politics. But Romney failed to even acknowledge those concerns and thereby completely failed to address them.
That's because Romney is politically savvy. He knows that getting even a tiny bit specific about his church's off-center doctrine and policies would be political suicide. Let alone if he were to address some of the really-way-out-there stuff. And he also knows that, at least at this point in the campaign, he doesn't need to. His audience yesterday was not the average American voter.
In fact, I'm not certain the average American voter has any concerns about his Mormonism except that most find the whole thing a bit strange. Come to think of it, the only time I ever hear Romney's faith come up is when he himself brings it up. It is as if he holds it up as the single issue he is able to successfully address time after time. A straw man, of sorts.
So who was his audience? The evangelical right. His own party. Those who want a Christian crusader to pick up the baton from George W. and whose influence virtually assures the opportunity to hand-pick the Republican nominee. They want to hear Romney say that he stands for the same things they do.
And he did say that. Or at least he put himself in a position to be immune from criticism about the issue. He did this by doing what he does best... by restating the concern to something slightly different that he can then answer to everyone's satisfaction. He plays offense and makes it look like defense.
It's like this...
Someone asks, "How will your faith influence your policy as a potential president?"
He says, "So, you're asking me if I am a person of faith... let me assure you, I am."
Well played, my friend... well, played.
Filed under - Mormonism
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I have been assuming that Mitt will not make it to presidency because he is Mormon. I thought it was an accepted view in the states that Mormonism is creepy, but could that simply be something we're taught in the southern states? The standard belief here is to always be on your guard about Mormons. I think some people might believe their brains will be sucked out by them. I'm not sure really. I also went to a creepy Baptist school for junior high and we had to watch videos on how to defend ourselves against Jehovah Witnesses and Mormons.
So my assumption that most people think Mormonism is a scary scary cult is wrong?
I should write a post on the Mormon videos we had to watch. They were horrifying. Something about how Mormon leaders kill people for talking. Like the mafia.