Contrast This

"Compare and contrast." As a student, it seems that nearly every assignment I've ever had to complete deals with comparing and contrasting one person/issue/text to another. The question seemed to come up again on Thursday, this time when Mitt Romney made his speech, "Faith in America" at George Bush Sr.'s Presidential Library in Texas about being a Mormon running for president. A lot of people immediately rushed to make comparisons to JFK's speech (also in Texas) regarding his running for the presidency while being a Catholic.

Even Romney, in his speech, couldn't get away from the supposed comparison:

"Almost 50 years ago another candidate from Massachusetts explained that he was an American running for President, not a Catholic running for President. Like him, I am an American running for President."

However, beyond that, there are few similarities between the two men or their speeches. Kennedy, although a proud Catholic, did not want to bring faith into his campaign, since he believed that there were more pressing practical issues that faced the nation:

"I want to emphasize from the outset that we have far more critical issues to face in the 1960 election; the spread of Communist influence, until it now festers 90 miles off the coast of Florida--the humiliating treatment of our President and Vice President by those who no longer respect our power--the hungry children I saw in West Virginia, the old people who cannot pay their doctor bills, the families forced to give up their farms--an America with too many slums, with too few schools, and too late to the moon and outer space."

A bit dated, yes, but the message still rings rings very loudly and clearly. JFK, who went on in his speech to talk about how much he revered the concept of separation of church and state upon which this country was founded did not want faith to play a pivotal role in the election.

Romney, however, in his speech, demonstrated that he thinks otherwise:

"I'm moved by the Lord's words: 'For I was an hungered, and ye gave me meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink: I was a stranger, and ye took me in: naked, and ye clothed me...'"

Faith, he made clear, is an inherent part of America. I couldn't care less that Romney happens to be a Mormon and is running for president. What I do care about is whether or not his idea of America is one that includes all Americans. He says on Thursday, "We should acknowledge the Creator as did the Founders...I will not separate us from 'the God who gave us liberty.'" He went out of his way to isolate certain segments of the American population (namely atheists) in order to make the bond between religion and the state even stronger, something to which the Founders were very opposed.

This is not what JFK did. Kennedy was a religious man, but he was a tolerant man. He understood that religion was private and that it need not be imposed on others. Most importantly, he used his Texas speech about religion to emphasize that religion should not be made into an election concern; communism, poverty, and the elderly were simply too important. Romney, on the other hand, must think otherwise. Even spoke 18 more minutes longer than Kennedy, he didn't mention domestic or international issues after the first minute. To him, religion and its attachment to the state is just as important as any other issue in the election.

Compare and contrast Romney to JFK? In order to compare the two, we would first need to find some commonalities, and other than the Massachusetts connection, it's gonna be a while before any more of those pop up. Meanwhile, the contrasting could go on forever.