God and Presidential Debates

It turns out that God rarely merits a mention in presidential debates. There’s often plenty of God-talk on the campaign trail and at party conventions, but not when the candidates talk with each other. As far as I could glean, the only mention of God in tonight’s debate was by Mitt Romney toward the end:

The role of government — look behind us: the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence… we are endowed by our Creator with our rights — I believe we must maintain our commitment to religious tolerance and freedom in this country. That statement also says that we are endowed by our Creator with the right to pursue happiness as we choose. I interpret that as, one, making sure that those people who are less fortunate and can’t care for themselves are cared by — by one another.

We’re a nation that believes we’re all children of the same God. And we care for those that have difficulties — those that are elderly and have problems and challenges, those that disabled, we care for them. And we look for discovery and innovation, all these thing desired out of the American heart to provide the pursuit of happiness for our citizens.

It was one of Romney’s better moments in a debate overwhelmed by dueling statistics and accusations, and it came off better on television than it does on the transcript (Romney’s remarks are not exactly coherent). Even if it was pre-planned, by referencing the words behind him Romney came off as unusually spontaneous. And Romney was finally able to pivot from endless feuding with Obama to the American ideals that many on both sides of the partisan divide cherish. The Declaration of Independence, especially the line quoted by Romney, is right at the heart of the American canon.
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