Romney and the 'Mormon' Issue

I can't help feeling that Mitt Romney is manipulating everyone with the "Mormon" speech he is planning to give on Thursday.

It seems to me that everything he does and everything he says is motivated by political concerns. This speech is being given at around the same time that polls started showing real movement among Iowa's evangelical Christians in Mike Huckabee's direction. A loss to Huckabee in Iowa would be humiliating for Romney, who has spent so much money in Iowa and spent so much time there that he might as well take up residence in Des Moines.

Romney's speech is being compared to John F. Kennedy's address on his Catholicism in 1960. But there are a few key differences. For one, Kennedy didn't make the speech while he was seeking his party's nomination. He waited until after the Democratic convention and his Republican opponent already had been nominated.

Back in 1960, the potential influence of the Vatican on a Kennedy presidency was a genuine concern on the part of some Protestants. It was something Kennedy had to deal with. But I've heard little if any discussion of the potential influence of Salt Lake City on a Romney presidency.

If Kennedy had given his speech during the primaries, there might have been a backlash that could have handed the nomination to Hubert Humphrey or Lyndon Johnson -- or maybe even Adlai Stevenson for the third straight time.

In that regard, there may be some similarity between 1960 and 2007. I think there could well be a backlash among Republicans

And, to misquote the late Lloyd Bentsen, Mitt Romney is no JFK.

Mormonism isn't everyone's cup of tea. Neither is Catholicism. But Kennedy had the style and the oratorical skill one needs to make the "religious tolerance" argument. I'm not sure Romney has that.

Frankly, this seems like Romney opportunism to me. According to recent polls, Huckabee is making some real inroads among evangelical Christians, and Romney wants to score some political points playing the religious victim.

Still, I'm willing to give Romney the opportunity to make his case.

On Thursday, we'll find out if he has what it takes to make it.