Mitt Romney: My Religion Is Unusual

Mitt Romney, who launched “Operation: Connect with People,” was able to get close and personal with his supporters and show his appreciation at a rally in Bexley, Ohio on Feb. 29. Only having just survived Michigan and one week from the significant event that is “Super Tuesday,” the former governor of Massachusetts has, so it seems, come to realize that he lacks human warmth, or a certain “sociability,” with his fellow people. Therefore, Romney is working on addressing the seriousness and method that characterize him.

As we already saw in South Carolina, Mitt Romney continues to start his addresses with the well-established wife number. In Bexley, he presented Ann Romney, who in turn introduced him. Ann’s opening speech, which is almost identical every time, also serves to give us another perspective on the Romney family, long considered a little too perfect. “The best part of being a grandmother is watching my grandchildren misbehave,” she quipped. This is, as she viewed it, a sort of justice for all that her five sons had inflicted on her, saying that “they deserve it.” She also added that soon her grandchildren would be teenagers and that they would have great fun together. Then Mitt took center stage, wearing old jeans, frayed just right. He echoed the same sentiments. “Grandkids are fabulous!” he said. “You don’t have to change their diapers, and they love you.”

More than anything, Romney has the intelligence to reduce the length of his speech in order to devote more of his time to questions from the audience. Better yet, he himself takes the microphone to the hands that reach out. And as if by magic, those asking questions invited him to show a little of his human side. One supporter, who Romney complimented on his patriotic shirt bearing the colors of the American flag, stated that Romney is often viewed by some as a politician with no heart and asked Romney to show an example where he had “received no compensation or volunteered” to show the American people that he loves them.

Then something happened that is so rare that it had to be noticed, Mitt Romney talked about his allegiance to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. “My religion is an unusual one in a number of respects,” he begins, “but one in particular is that we don’t have a paid ministry.” Romney followed up by stating that the time he devoted “would be around 20-40 hours a week. So on top of my job, I was pasturing people in my congregation.” Furthermore, he stated that unemployment “is certainly not just a statistic. It’s traumatic….”

All this is true: In Boston, his Mormon friends told of how Romney, during his years as a “bishop,” spent considerable time also working as an educator, listening, guiding and trying to relieve his fellow believers, who are not all millionaires like him. Among them were even recent immigrants to the United States from Haiti and Cambodia. The big problem for Mitt Romney is that he preferred to avoid speaking about this chapter in his life until now in order to not give too much importance to his strange religion, which is still little known and appreciated in the United States. Is he changing? Is it better to qualify for the presidential election reminding people that you are a former Mormon bishop rather than trying to pass as a robot without a heart, soul or compassion?

On Wednesday in Bexley, the Romney charm worked perfectly in all cases. ”The Republicans need a moderate to beat Obama,” explains 63-year-old Cheryl Brown, a retired teacher who came with her neighbor’s daughter, Sophie, who can no longer formulate why she likes Romney. But she willingly posed for a photo with her two small flags.

However, everyone is not fooled. At the entrance of the meeting was a certain “Mr. Lawless,” disguised as a sheep with piercing blue eyes through his yellow mask to express what he thinks of Romney’s supporters. Lawless feels that Romney is one of the worst Republican candidates, and if it comes down to Romney and Obama, they would be one in the same. He adds that the large financial institutions that supported Obama in 2008 would now support Romney. In 2008, Mr. Lawless said that he did not vote in the elections. However, this year he supports Ron Paul, the old libertarian who continues to ignite the youth.