Trailhead: A campaign blog.

Parsing Romney's "Faith in America" Speech

Mitt Romney’s ANTICIPATED, MOMENTOUS, HISTORY-MAKING speech on faith seems to have gone over well. His main point: America should embrace religious diversity and let his religion’s quirks be treated as “not bases for criticism but rather a test of our tolerance.” Nothing too controversial there—but unlikely to persuade people viscerally averse to Mormonism itself.

Anyway, a few lines are worth parsing:

• “I believe in my Mormon faith and I endeavor to live by it.” Yes, I’m going to use the word Mormon. But just once. See? I’m not embarrassed to say it. Once.
• “Americans do not respect believers of convenience. Americans tire of those who would jettison their beliefs, even to gain the world.” Irony alert! Hard to say why he included this line, given that in the case of abortion and gay rights, this is the exact crime of which he stands accused. (More on this here.)
• “When I place my hand on the Bible and take the oath of office, that oath becomes my highest promise to God.” Hear that? The Bible, not the Book of Mormon.
• “No candidate should become the spokesman for his faith.” And yet: “I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God and the Savior of mankind. My church's beliefs about Christ may not all be the same as those of other faiths.” Step 1: Have cake. Step 2: Eat cake.
• "I love the profound ceremony of the Catholic Mass, the approachability of God in the prayers of the Evangelicals, the tenderness of spirit among the Pentecostals, the confident independence of the Lutherans, the ancient traditions of the Jews, unchanged through the ages, and the commitment to frequent prayer of the Muslims." The implication: That's how new religions get founded. Not so threatening, right?
  
• "But in recent years, the notion of the separation of church and state has been taken by some well beyond its original meaning. … It is as if they are intent on establishing a new religion in America – the religion of secularism. They are wrong.” So there are religions he doesn’t respect!
• “I saw my father march with Martin Luther King.” African-Americans weren’t allowed to serve as Mormon Bishops until 1978. The issue hasn't really come up yet on the trail, but it might in the general election. Better to diffuse now.
• “I have visited many of the magnificent cathedrals in Europe. They are so inspired ... so grand ... so empty. Raised up over generations, long ago, so many of the cathedrals now stand as the postcard backdrop to societies just too busy or too 'enlightened' to venture inside and kneel in prayer.” The sarcasm of the word enlightened didn’t quite come through in the speech, as if he were saying Europeans actually are enlightened. Next time, consider air quotes.
• “We are a long way from perfect and we have surely stumbled along the way.” Seamus would agree.

Good roundups of the Romney speech here and here. Audience reactions here. Read the full speech here.

Parsing ... Hillary on Obama's Foreign-Policy Cred

"Parsing" is an occasional series in which we dissect the candidates' words down to the nitpickiest detail. First up, Hillary's remarks today on Barack Obama's foreign-policy experience:

Hillary Clinton knows how to craft an insult. On the same day that she releases an ad deploring the "Republican Attack Machine," she goes after Barack Obama's claim that living overseas as a child gave him a unique understanding of foreign policy. Quoth Hillary: "Now voters will judge whether living in a foreign country at the age of 10 prepares one to face the big, complex international challenges the next president will face. I think we need a president with more experience than that. ... I don't think this is the time for on the job training on our economy or on foreign policy."

Let's pick this apart, shall we? 

Wording: "Now voters will judge ..." Effect: Reassures the audience that it's not Hillary doing the judging. It's the voters themselves. She's not attacking anyone; she's merely pointing out a set of facts that others can interpret as they wish.  

Wording: "... living in a foreign country ..."  Effect: Reminds listeners that Obama was not born and raised an American. Does that make him Muslim?

Wording: " ... at the age of 10 ..." Effect: Reminds you that Obama is still relatively young. Ties in with portrait of Obama as "naive" and "inexperienced." From Hillary's perspective, he might as well still be 10.

Wording: "... big, complex international challenges ..." Effect: Juxtaposed with "age of 10," suggests that Obama is a child in above his head. Doesn't go into detail about what those challenges are. You wouldn't understand, and neither would Obama.

Wording: "... on the job training ..." Effect: A favorite Hillary phrase. Similar to an attack Mitt Romney leveled at Hillary when he called her an "intern." Leverages Clinton's experience in the White House to paint Obama as a newbie. 

Translation: Barack Obama is a stripling from another country who can barely dress himself, let along negotiate complex nuclear disarmament pacts. If he were president, they'd need to hire an official White House babysitter. Plus, he'd be so busy reading the Constitution for the first time (after having it translated), he wouldn't know how to protect it.