Thursday, December 06, 2007
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/12/06/AR2007120600569.html?hpid=topnews
Gov. Romney's speech answered nothing, and hid in our Constitutional freedom of religion protections in order to justify his silence. He basically told evangelical Christian Republicans 'I share your values, let's not quibble on the details'. Perhaps that would work for many of them, since they'd rather have a Pastor in Chief than a President who's intellectually curious enough to interrogate the frailties of many evangelical public policy proscriptions.
Basically, any GOP candidate who shouts 'I share your values; let me beat Hillary Clinton and/or Barack Obama!' will find GOP primary voters willing to listen. Romney made that point to those people with his lines opposing a 'religion of secularism' but if one doesn't happen to be a GOP primary voter, Romney's speech presented more uncritical patriotic fluff with a sprinkling of salty Holy Water.
Bottom line: Nothing I saw today convinced me that Gov. Romney would lose the GOP nomination. As a African American atheist who votes Democratic, Gov. Romney does not share my values, and probably doesn't want to. But at least with atheism, one thinks critically about established beliefs. Gov. Romney offered no detailed explanations on Mormonism, and that makes him both a useful GOP Presidential candidate and a terrible option for the highest executive office in our country.
Gov. Romney's speech answered nothing, and hid in our Constitutional freedom of religion protections in order to justify his silence. He basically told evangelical Christian Republicans 'I share your values, let's not quibble on the details'. Perhaps that would work for many of them, since they'd rather have a Pastor in Chief than a President who's intellectually curious enough to interrogate the frailties of many evangelical public policy proscriptions.
Basically, any GOP candidate who shouts 'I share your values; let me beat Hillary Clinton and/or Barack Obama!' will find GOP primary voters willing to listen. Romney made that point to those people with his lines opposing a 'religion of secularism' but if one doesn't happen to be a GOP primary voter, Romney's speech presented more uncritical patriotic fluff with a sprinkling of salty Holy Water.
Bottom line: Nothing I saw today convinced me that Gov. Romney would lose the GOP nomination. As a African American atheist who votes Democratic, Gov. Romney does not share my values, and probably doesn't want to. But at least with atheism, one thinks critically about established beliefs. Gov. Romney offered no detailed explanations on Mormonism, and that makes him both a useful GOP Presidential candidate and a terrible option for the highest executive office in our country.
