Kmiec on the Romney speech

Prof. Doug Kmiec (who is an advisor to Gov. Romney) -- about whose essay I blogged yesterday -- asked me to post the following, and I am delighted to do so:

The speech -- A Reason to Put Faith in Governor Romney

Mitt Romney gave the speech many of us wish John Kennedy had.

John Kennedy is a hero for me.  My first foray into politics was as a child with my father campaigning for JFK in Chicago.  Sporting a button that said “if I were 21, I’d vote for Kennedy,” I meant it then, and now when so many years have past, it is difficult to remember 21, let alone a younger age.

So to say that Romney did Kennedy one better is not in any way to denigrate the memory of the young, vibrant president whose vision and idealism still inspire.

But Kennedy handled the so-called Catholic issue largely by separating himself from Catholicism.  In this, Kennedy would say “the separation of church and state is absolute,” and that the statements of his church were “rarely relevant to any situation in” America.  Said Kennedy: I do not consider myself bound by church statements with regard to “my public acts – why should you?”

Kennedy sought acceptance upon the ground of secularism.  Romney’s common ground is different, and it is that of America’s founders.  What matters is not how a man worships, but that he worships. Said George Washington: “Of all the dispositions and habits which lead to political prosperity, Religion and Morality are indispensable supports. . . . reason and experience both forbid us to expect that national morality can prevail in exclusion of religious principle.”

When Kennedy spoke in Houston, he wanted to change the subject.  When Romney returned to Houston, he embraced it.   Kennedy began his talk by saying there are far more critical issues to speak of – hungry children, old people who cannot pay their doctors bills, and America with too many slums and too few schools.  Sadly, almost a half century later, those critical issues remain with us, but if we are going to meaningfully address them, we cannot separate ourselves from the meaning that faith provides.  We need our greatest ingenuity – our reason, but reason and faith are collaborators, not antagonists.  As Romney put it, “we can be deeply thankful that we live in a land where reason and religion are friends.”

No doubt some will say that Romney failed to address whatever differences there may be between the Mormon tradition and that of other faiths.  But then, exploring those theological questions would have been entirely inappropriate.  Kennedy didn’t attempt to justify the unique doctrines of the Catholic Church either.  Said JFK it is not my purpose to explain “what kind of church I believe in for that should be important only to me, but what kind of America believe in.”  Romney affirmed, noting that to make such explanation would be to contradict the very guarantees of religious freedom and against religious tests for public office.  “ No candidate should become the spokesman for his faith. For if he becomes President he will need the prayers of the people of all faiths,” Romney said eloquently.

Yet, Faith does matter, said Romney, to “those American values ... lived in my religion [and] yours.”  Honoring God and love of neighbor prompted, he said, his father to “march with Martin Luther King. . .and provide compassionate care to others . . .”   and with humility, guides him and his wife, Ann, in his marriage and family” today.

Inevitably, it will be asked was Romney’s speech as effective as Kennedy’s?   Yes, but for different reasons.  Kennedy said his faith wouldn’t matter, but then acted as if it did, especially in civil rights.  Romney said his faith would “inform [his] presidency” in those subtle ways that every great President from Lincoln to Kennedy would unquestionably affirm.  Today’s speech supplied ample reason to entrust him with that office.

I do not know enough to know what the political effects of Gov. Romney's speech will be.  I tend to agree with Prof. Kmiec, though, that its content was better than then-Sen. Kennedy's.  (Though, to be fair -- as Ken Woodward points out -- the Kennedy speech was given in a dramatically different context.)  That said, and all things considered, I think Gov. Romney would have done well to make clear that a crucial dimension of religious liberty is the freedom not to profess a religion at all.  (I do not doubt that he believes this.)  (Full disclosure:  I am a member of Sen. Thompson's "Law Professors Committee.")