David Frum on Romney's Speech
David Frum, almost always a keen observer of all things political, made an interesting point about Romney's speech on National Review Online. His point is that by answering, even vaguely, any questions about his religion he in essence legitimized all questions about his faith...
To be blunt, Romney is saying:
It is legitimate to ask a candidate, "Is Jesus the son of God?"
But it is illegitimate to ask a candidate, "Is Jesus the brother of Lucifer?"
It is hard for me to see a principled difference between these two questions, and I think on reflection that the audiences to whom Romney is trying to appeal will also fail to see such a difference. Once Romney answered any question about the content of his religious faith, he opened the door to every question about the content of his religious faith. This speech for all its eloquence will not stanch the flow of such questions.
Bad move - and one with very unfair results to a candidate who all must acknowledge is a man who has proven that his mind actually operates in a highly empirical, data-driven, and uncredulous way.
Had he focused instead on simply arguing that presidents need only prove themselves loyal to American values, he would have been on safe ground. Instead, he over-reached, super-adding to his civic appeal an additional appeal to voters who demand faith in Jesus as a requirement in a president. That is an argument that will not work - and a game Mitt Romney cannot win.
Interesting spin, I hadn't thought of it that way but it is true. He probably would have been better off refusing to answer any questions at all. He has already peaked and is on the way down methinks...
(HT: Between Two Worlds)
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