Novak Rides A Favorite Horse
Perhaps I’m just hopelessly out of touch, but I find it odd that Mitt Romney’s religion keeps coming up in Robert Novak columns. I’ve commented on Novak and Romney twice before, once on May 8, 2005, and once on June 16, 2005, and both times the discussion seemed too focused on Romney’s Mormonism.
Novak has a new piece out on the subject today:
Mitt Romney, in his last nine months as governor of Massachusetts, was in Washington Tuesday to address the U.S. Chamber of Commerce in an early stage of his 2008 presidential campaign. To a growing number of Republican activists, he looks like the party’s best bet. But any conversation among Republicans about Romney invariably touches on concerns of whether his Mormon faith disqualifies him for the presidency.
The U.S. Constitution prohibits a religious test for public office, but that is precisely what is being posed now. Prominent, respectable Evangelical Christians have told me, not for quotation, that millions of their co-religionists cannot and will not vote for Romney for president solely because he is a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. If Romney is nominated and their abstention results in the election of Hillary Rodham Clinton, that’s just too bad. The evangelicals are adamant, saying there is no way Romney can win them over.
Romney is well aware that an unconstitutional religious test is being applied to him, but he may be seriously minimizing the problem’s scope as limited to relatively few fanatics. He feels the vast majority of conservative voters worried about his faith will flinch at the prospect of another Clinton in the White House. But such a rational approach is not likely to head off a highly emotional collision of religious faith and religious bias with American politics.
I’m in agreement with Romney, and I may very well be wrong, but I’ve always felt that the power of the ‘Religious Right’ (notice the capitals) is greatly exaggerated. What politicians should focus on is the religious right, intentionally unqouted and uncapitalized. Most Republicans are people of faith, but they don’t take their marching orders from anyone; they just prefer a candidate who is friendly (or at least not hostile) to religion. Romney remains a long shot for the nomination, but not because of his Mormonism; instead, it’s his misfortune that he will be running in what looks to be the Year of McCain…
Comrade Mark,
The “anti-Mormon” factor is difficult for most folks to understand unless they have lived in Utah. I was raised and educated in the “Land of Zion”. According to the locals, it’s the only place in the world where “A Jew can be considered a Gentile”.
Romney’s great albatross is that so many HAVE passed through Utah and have seen the stranglehold that the LDS church has on every facet of life. For example, you could not legally buy anything but 3.2 beer and wine until Salt Lake City got the Winter Olympics. It was illegal to sell liquer by the drink anywhere in the state. All of a sudden, the Olympics turn up, and the mighty LDS-dominated state legislature suddenly hears the sounds of many cash registers jingling and so changes the law.
Schools in Utah at both the Junior High and High School level virtually all have LDS seminaries located directly beside them. Most are even designed and built by the same firms that made the schools, so the architecture will match or blend in. The LDS students are allowed “released time” from school to attend religious classes during the school day. Those classes were evn listed on the actual public school records and enrollment forms.
LDS religious thought permeates all levels of society. If you are a non-Mormon, then starting up a business can be problematical unless you have wads of cash, or are a well-known company.
School-wise, it always seems to be the the local Bishop or Stake President’s kids are the ones who are voted in as school presidents, captains of the football team, cast as leads in the play, etc.
Basically, if you are not “of the Church” you are truly a second-class citizen. Except, of course, when it comes to paying taxes, fees, etc.
Bitter? Yup. I moved out when I had the chance. I go back from time to time to visit relatives, but nothing has really changed. The LDS church is the shadow government, and nothing of importance gets done without their approval.
Fast forward to Brother Mitt, who is an ordained Bishop in the church. Are we ready for an ordained minister to become our president? Are we truly convinced that he will be making all his decisions on his own? Yeah, the same was said of JFK (the real-one, not the Mass wannabee) and Catholicism, but JFK was too much of a liberal too let the Church interfere. Romney, however, is an entirely different beast.
Religious Right members are not the only ones suspicious of Bishop Mitt. I’m not a Christian, and many of my friends feel just as I do. If he’s the party’s nominee, we might as well stay home because at least with a Democrat I know what I am getting.
Respects,
Gwedd
Well, maybe…as I said, I may be underestimating the Mormon factor…but I just don’t see it. The only person who ever seems to bring it up is Robert Novak….
Hi Mark,
I am a religious person who does not have a problem with Romney’s religion. Politically, I am more often in agreement with members of LDS than I am with members of my own religion. However, just like McCain, Romney would need to be the last man standing before he gets my support because of his big government (non)solution to health care in Massachusetts.
If I had to choose between Romney and McCain, I would choose…crap, surely there are better choices than those two.
Mark – I’m more on Novak’s side than yours here. I don’t think Mitt’s Mormonism is quite as prohibitive as Novak claims, but I definitely think it will be too much of a negative for him to have any real hope of getting the nomination. Maybe you don’t take it seriously because you live in Austin (which I take it is not a terribly friendly-to-religion kind of place), but people just plain don’t like Mormons. Not only is their brand of Christianity seen as semi-cultish by a lot of Christians, but non-Christians find their puritanism downright disturbing. I can’t imagine it being enough to make people want to vote for Hillary, but it could certainly keep them out of the voting booth, which is roughly the same thing.
David – If I had to choose between Romney and McCain, I would do a little jig. That said, I can’t even begin to imagine that the Republican Party is going to get things that right. I am fully prepared for George Allen or Bill Frist or someone equally brainless.
I think Ryan’s probably right. I don’t think people are afraid Romney will taking orders from Salt Lake City. I think the concern is just about Mormonism in general. And if you’ve got the left viewing it as prudish and backwards and the right viewing it as something of a cult, that’s not a great combination for a campaign.
I don’t think I could vote for Romney myself. I’ve heard nothing from him that intrigues me. The few things I have heard have been his health-care program, which seems designed to antagonize as many people as possible, and his pro-life stance, which just doesn’t drive me. With Giuliani looking slimmer and slimmer, I’m thinking McCain’s my guy. Strong on the war and strong on cutting spending. If you give me two big things, I can live with a lot of little irritations.
Hi Ryan,
I will vote for whoever gets nominated by the Republicans, except Arnold, but I’m guessing enough Republicans still believe in the law to keep from nominating him. None of the prospects make me want to jig.
At this point, I think Republicans still have an advantage no matter who is nominated. Allen would risk the middle and Romney would risk some Christian Conservatives. Frist would have trouble getting his family to vote for him.
I don’t think McCain will attract moderates like most people believe. After talk radio shreds him in the primaries, he will be raw meat for the Carville machine.
Hillary will have problems with the middle and the far left.
What is Rudy thinking? This elections seems to be his if he would only ask!
“Not only is their brand of Christianity seen as semi-cultish by a lot of Christians…”
Folks who think their prophet discovered sacred gold tablets from Jesus in the Rockies vis a vis the native Indians, and then transcribed said tablets into English by peering into a hat – ahem, all religions have a blend of unreality and mysticism within their practices, but that may be stretching things a little too far for my comfort level.
They also do not apppear to be too tolerant of non – believers in their midst, so one could say that they’re not qualitatively different from the other fundamentalists.
I think Novak’s concern over Mitt’s Mormonism is misplaced. Most social conservatives want a person of faith who will stand up for their issues. Romney has already shown that his campaign will be going in that direction. Yes, a few folks here and there will stay home because of Mitt’s religion, but we’re talking about a marginal number largely concentrated in dark red states that won’t change the outcome of anything. Most social conservatives will vote for Romney if faced with a more secular choice like McCain or an openly hostile alternative like Hillary.
And could it come to McCain v. Romney? Well, considering that NH is the gateway to many, many things, and considering that both have a strong claim to NH, I’d say such a result is quite likely at this point.
Anyway, as the commenters on this site have pointed out, the real Mormon problem Mitt may run into comes from voters across the board who think Mormons are “weird.” Romney can diffuse this simply by being Romney, and coming across as a clearly intelligent, sufficiently cosmopolitan individual who makes fun of his own religion and is running not as the Mormon President, but as a person of faith who just happens to be Mormon. Most people stick with the church they’re born into; Mitt’s no different, and unless voters see Romney as a great Mormon crusader bent on Utah-izing the nation, his religion should disappear as a campaign problem in a Massachusetts minute, which is only slightly slower than a New York minute, usually due to all the self-congratulatory talking.
I agree the fact that Romney is a Mormon will not be much of an issue. I think most people that know Mormons realize that they are not wierd nor cultish.
Despite that there is still a lot ignorance, some of which has been displayed by a few of the comments made on this thread, regarding “Mormons” that may prompt Romney to take the defensive. If he continues to ignore and take such comments with a grain of salt however, thus not putting himself on the defensive and making the issue more about defending Mormonism than the relevant political issues, I think it will continue to be a non issue–much to the mormon haters dismay. Nobody wants to here religion bashing on the campaign trail. It will only hurt those who bring it up.