Peter Hamilton profiles presidential hopeful Mitt Romney.
Mitt Romney’s campaign has not encountered the upsets that have been bestowed upon the other candidates. He leads the pack with his 105 delegates out of the necessary 1144 and after his losses to Rick Santorum in Colorado and Minnesota, find Romney will be hoping for a victory in Arizona and Michigan to keep his campaign on track.
Romney himself descends from a family of Mormon politicians. His father, mind George, was elected three times as the Governor of Michigan, sought the presidency and was also appointed to Nixon’s cabinet. Mitt is the youngest son of George and is deeply religious, indeed, he is devoted to his faith. Belonging to the Mormon Church involves accepting a code of conduct, which places supreme value on strong heterosexual families. Despite his devotion to Mormonism, polygamy is an aspect of his faith of which he is ashamed. Unfortunately for Romney, most people don’t know much more about Mormonism than the church’s former ties with polygamy.
Mormonism is a fascinating characteristic of Romney and is something that has thrust him into public conversation. A lot of people didn’t think that Obama could win the White House in 2008 because he’s black, but he did. A lot of people thought that John F. Kennedy couldn’t become president because he was a catholic, but he did. So, just as those two men entered the White House with a diverse aspect to their characters, so too could Mitt Romney.
Many Americans are untrustworthy and skeptical of the Mormon faith. A poll conducted by a group called Gallup found that 22% of Americans said that they would not vote for a Mormon president, even if that candidate represented their own party.
All of the negatives aside, Romney has had many successes as Governor of Massachusetts. Indeed one of these successes has been used as a template in the Obama administration. That is his policy on health care, which he implemented in his home state and which Obama wanted to implement across the USA. This facet of his career is something that Romney wants to steer clear of. He doesn’t want any association with the Obama administration and thus, he avoids admitting that Obama has adopted a policy that was originally his brainchild.
Romney runs a campaign in which job creation is to the fore. However, his opponents claim that through his work in Bain Capital (his business), Romney successfully helped to end and destroy jobs. Though the company helped to expand some businesses, thus creating jobs, the layoffs and closures at other firms that were in competition with Bain Capital aided in putting people out of work.
Romney needs to keep up the pace with which he began his campaign if he is to ultimately beat Rick Santorum. His victory could mark a historical event if he is the first ever Mormon to become president of the USA. Equally, Obama, who is now said to have his campaign in full swing, must target all of the republican candidates if he is to be the ultimate victor. Currently, Obama doesn’t have a single competitor and the person who is poised to be his opposition in the race still has to beat off the other republican candidates in achieving an additional 1039 delegates in order to gain the republican nomination.
