COMMENTARY | Mormonism isn't on the table in the current election cycle as a talking point issue for debate among those vying for the Oval Office. At least, it wasn't supposed to be. But among the serious political science analysts and within muckraking fringes it will be.
Enter part-time fringe resident, muckraking provocateur, and self-appointed Romney campaign advisor Sean Hannity, who took exception to Romney's distancing himself from a political ad from a Super PAC going after Obama's relationship with the Rev. Jeremiah Wright.
"Why? Why can't this be part of the narrative?" Hannity asked his audience on his radio program Thursday. "What is black liberation theology?" According to Mediaite, the Fox News Channel host went on to describe Obama's embrasure of Reverend Wright's views, considered radical by many.
Hannity sees nothing wrong with blasting Obama with negative ads.
But Romney does. He understands that taking shots at Obama's belief system opens up scrutiny into his own, something he has avoided like the proverbial plague. Why? Because much of his own Republican Party's base is made up of evangelical Christians, a great portion of which seem to think of Mormonism as a cult. It is something over which Romney would rather not go on the defensive.
Besides, explaining Mormonism's tenets can be a bit problematic, what with Native Americans being the lost tribe of Israel, Joseph Smith's odd translation of golden plates from within a top hat, and the idea that the afterlife is segregated into worlds ("kingdoms of glory") inhabited by individuals rewarded by works.
So Romney has attempted to cultivate connections with evangelical conservatives without referring to his religion, like agreeing to speak at the commencement ceremonies at Liberty University, an evangelical stronghold founded by the late Rev. Jerry Falwell.
Romney officially distancing himself from the Super PAC ad also gives him the appearance of being "above it all," even though the Super PAC will most likely run the ad anyway. Throughout the 2012 primary campaign, Romney made a point to often declare himself removed from what Super PACs were saying in his name, especially after the seeming voter backlash in South Carolina after rival Newt Gingrich complained about the deluge of negative ads that he said cost him a victory in the Iowa Caucuses.
But Romney also knows that, sooner or later, the attacks are going to happen.
And Hannity saying Romney should go after Obama's religious views anyway also plays into the "above it all" scenario. Surrogates like Hannity on Fox News Channel and other conservative media outlets can attack the president's religion with impunity and act outraged that Romney isn't using the information against the incumbent president, knowing all the while that what they are doing amounts to the same thing -- placing attention on Obama's religious beliefs.
That's correct. Hannity has simply manufactured faux outrage to get his shoveled muck tossed into the fan.
Hannity said the Obama campaign would certainly use negative comments or statements mouthed by Romney's religious leaders. "And they would not pay an ounce of attention to complaints that this was about personal attacks," he told his radio audience. "So what I'm saying to Gov. Romney at this point is, I want you to be as tough on Barack Obama as you were against Newt Gingrich and Rick Santorum."
But Romney himself wasn't tough on Gingrich and Santorum. Supposedly, and by federal law, he cannot discuss his campaign or direct the goings-on at a Super PAC, even one dedicated to promoting his presidency. So it was the Super PAC, not Romney, that was tough on his rivals.
And so it will be with Obama.
And if the outside organizations supposedly not in affiliation with the Romney campaign persists, Obama-supporting Super PACs will do the same against Romney. And President Obama will mouth words about not approving of personal attacks against his opponent's religious views.
It's a dance, a political game of surrogate said, surrogate said -- with plausible deniability and supposed clean hands all around, while the muck is raked and tossed into a fan pointed at the other side. The politicians get to say they disagree, object, and deny responsibility, knowing all the while that this is simply the new way that negative campaigning gets introduced and used as an excuse by others to join battle.
So get ready for surrogate political warfare on each politician's religion, while both stand back, declare their disapproval, and accuse the other of character assassination. All while Super PACs and muckrakers like the Sean Hannity gladly get their hands dirty.
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