The Romney Problem: A Modern Phenomenon?

I've seen it pointed out in several places that George Romney, a former Governor of Michigan and Mitt's father, never really had to explain his Mormon faith while he ran for president in 1968. On that evidence, it's suggested that something has changed in America if Mitt Romney has to defend his faith entering the 2008 campaign. As I think about it, this is an unfortunate development. I don't know very much about George Romney, but the impression I have is that he was a moderate -- he was reportedly unhappy with Barry Goldwater getting the nomination in 1964, for instance. Ironically, in light of my remarks about Mitt from yesterday, George's campaign collapsed when his intelligence was called into question -- he claimed to have been "brainwashed" by the U.S military while touring Vietnam. No one but a rabid Mormonophobe, if that's even a word, much less a type, would have suspected George Romney of having a dubious "Mormon" agenda 40 years ago. Nor, it's been pointed out, does anyone today suspect Harry Reid, the Democratic Senate leader, of such an agenda, though Mormon he is.

We can go further and note that no one raises eyebrows at the fact that Orrin Hatch, a Senator from Utah, is also a Mormon. In his case, the fact shouldn't raise eyebrows, since a Mormon should be expected to represent a largely Mormon state. Like Mitt Romney, Hatch is a Republican, and if he were to run for President, or were he to be nominated for the Supreme Court, as is occasionally suggested, he would probably suffer the same scrutiny that Romney must endure. For this, Republicans have themselves to blame, because they made their bed with the Religious Right years ago and thus made personal faith a matter of public accountability. They created the expectation that politicians would (and as Romney says, should) be influenced by faith in public life. So if someone enters the political arena from outside the religious mainstream, people will want to know what they really think and how their doctrines will influence their government of everyone else.

Even as he tried to fend off suspicion yesterday, Romney invited it. He may think he has shaken the question by promising not to be governed by some Utah cabal that many not even exist in the first place, but the question has never been whether someone else will tell him what to do, but how his own heart (more likely than mind) will guide him. If Romney wants us not to worry about his religion, he should think about keeping it behind a wall of separation, as Jefferson would say, when he goes out into the world. He'd do well to tell his fellow partisans to do likewise.