The presidential election draws nigh, and as it does both candidates have a couple of issues to wrestle with–one religious, one secular.
The religion problem for Mitt Romney is that his Latter Day Saint faith could be a turnoff for voters. Mormons have a reputation for good morals, but there’s a lot of eyebrow-raising baggage, too. Original Mormon doctrines on polygamy and people of darker skin tones are, um, troublesome. And their views on the nature of God and redemption do not coincide with the Bible.
Barack Obama has a story of redemption that should resonate with Christians. But occasionally the President says things about the Bible that might sound a little condescending (and by “might” I mean “do”).
When it comes to politics in general, both men are also vulnerable. They will both have strong appeal among each party’s base, but what about other voters?
For those who aren’t going to automatically vote Republican, how does Mr. Romney end the following sentence? “You should vote for me because…” So far there hasn’t been a theme that has become part of the national dialogue. You know, something catchy like “hope” or “change.”
For President Obama, he had a Democrat-controlled House and Senate for 2 years, and he has been in office for 4. Does he feel like his stimulus was a success? What is his plan to pay off even that much of the debt? In short, what has he done to earn 4 more years?
So where does that leave us? We have an imperfect system with imperfect candidates. But look on the bright side: This is the system we’ve had for over 200 years, and no candidate has ever been perfect, yet we’ve been very blessed overall.
And the NFL refs are back on the job. So, there’s that.