Romney, Obamacare and Mormonism

n this strange moment in which people still wonder what a Mormon president will do to the country, we have Mitt Romney’s political history, campaign conduct, and avowed policy to scrutinize. All of these things together tell us quite plainly that no matter who wins in November, we aren’t about to elect a Mormon president. We are about to elect another politician.

The anxiety that the Christian right and the liberal left and everyone in between has felt about the possibility that an immeasurable, religious weirdness will soon occupy the Oval Office in the form of Romney ought to be assuaged for good by the way that Romney reacted to the Supreme Court’s support of President Obama’s Affordable Care Act.

Romney’s rejection of the Supreme Court’s decision regarding Obamacare’s mandate was eminently predictable. Tucking the speech he had expected to give into his back pocket, Romney stood before Washington, D.C., microphones to declare his intent to repeal the Affordable Care Act and to appeal to voters to vote him into a position to do it. This reaction to the court’s decision was predictable particularly because of the political gains to be made by it. Moments after the speech, dreadsters of media programs and political public relations entities were characterizing Obamacare as the “largest tax hike ever” — language sure to bond libertarians and independents to the right. Like a corporate-size magnet, Romney’s speech attracted $4.3 million during the following twenty-four hours.

Which is to say, Romney’s response to the Supreme Court was not a Mormon response. It was a political response.
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