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He's Not Jack Kennedy
by David Domke and Kevin Coe
Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney will address the nation Thursday night about his Mormon faith and how it relates to his candidacy and policy goals. Many are calling it his "JFK moment" because the context recalls John F. Kennedy's storied 1960 address to a group of conservative Protestant clergy in Houston.
In that speech, Kennedy declared: "I believe in an America where the separation of church and state is absolute" and "I believe in a president whose views on religion are his own private affair."
Romney's speech will not sound these themes. To do so would be political suicide because Romney faces a fundamentally different political environment than did Kennedy.
In recent decades, conservative Christian evangelicals and Catholics -- the two groups at odds in the 1960 election -- have found common ground. These voters increasingly seek candidates whose faith substantially informs their politics.
The turning point came in 1980. Four years earlier Jimmy Carter made his Southern Baptist faith a centerpiece of his presidential campaign. Once in the White House, however, Carter's strict separation of church and state and moderate policies -- the JFK approach -- disappointed the growing religious conservative movement.
Ronald Reagan responded with we call the God strategy: a mixture of political voice and agenda that is primarily secularized, while -- in the words of Doug Wead, who in 1988 headed George H. W. Bush's campaign outreach to evangelicals -- finding opportunities to "signal" sympathy for religious conservatives' views. This tactic was stunningly successful in 1980, and subsequent presidents have followed suit.
How do we know? We ran the numbers.
Our analysis of thousands of public communications across eight decades shows that American politics today is defined by a calculated, demonstrably public religiosity unlike anything in modern history. Consider just one example.
On average, presidents from Franklin Roosevel t --the beginning of the modern presidency -- to Carter mentioned God in less than half of their major addresses. In contrast, Reagan, Bush, Bill Clinton, and George W. Bush (through year six) all did so in more than 90 percent of theirs. Further, the total number of references to God in the average presidential speech since 1981 was an astounding 120 percent higher than the average speech from 1933-1980. References to broader religious terms, such as faith, pray, sacred, worship, and crusade increased by 60 percent.
Wherever we look, whatever we measure -- from presidential speeches to proclamations, party platforms, even celebrations of Christmas -- our analysis points to the same conclusion: Politicians today face a religious politics far beyond anything Kennedy knew.
David Domke is Professor of Communication and Head of Journalism at the University of Washington. Kevin Coe is a doctoral candidate in Speech Communication at the University of Illinois. They are authors of the The God Strategy: How Religion Became a Political Weapon in America. To learn more about the book check out their handy website here.
This post first appeared on the Oxford University Press blog.
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Until, and unless, we can marginalize those politicians who "Pimp for Christ", we're doomed. And that is not an overstatement. Who would have believed that by invoking the name of God, the Constitution could have been evicerated to the extent that it has.
Another administration, with that same bent, will be the final nail in our collective coffin.
The trend of your calculations would seem to indicate that we should expect in the next decade a candidate actually having himself nailed to a cross to show his solidarity with the fundamentalists.
I'll tell you what is sick about our Whole Election Process, and it isn't the Blabbering about Religion or Religious values, it is the 3 year long Campaigns, as if we need this crap!
I am ready to scrap them all and make a decision in the last 30 days before the General Election.
This whole drawn out process doesn't help me decide on anyone, and basically turns me off to all of them, in Both Parties.
30 days of campaigning and that's it. After that it just becomes monotonous, and just grates on everyone's nerves and that's why everybody is turning into a Crank.
Maybe Thomas Jefferson was right when he suggested that the Senate vote in the new President from the Slate of Currently Sitting State Governors! That way No Senators can hold the Office, since every Senator we have elected has been a Disaster, Like JFK was. There wouldn't be any animous among the populace if the Senate handled the presidential election, and we would all be off than have to continue to suffer these Fools, and especially the Fools that Cover them!!!
Mr Domke, American Politicians in the White House have been trying to out Jesus, Jesus since Ronald Reagan rode his pony to DC.
I am less interested in a Presidential Candidate's religious beliefs than I am in being confident he/she can leave those beliefs on the coat rack when he/she starts his/her work for the American People everyday.
We aren't electing a High Priest(ess), after all.
If this clown should somehow buy/bully/bullshit his way into office, it will be a handoff from Moron to Moroni.
"I knew Jack Kennedy, Jack Kennedy was a friend of mine and Mitt..." This is great. A cultist is going to attempt a political end run around the culture of cultism that has been purposely created for cultists like him to win political elections by appealing to the cults of the country. This should be fun. The only reason to watch this "jim crow jumper" speak is to see just how low a panderer can go to be able to kiss up to the coffle of cults waiting to see his humility. This, just so they can label this up-kissing -- political courage. Your piece is right on target. The bed the Republicans made is now inviting them to sleep in it among the thorns and shards of religious bigotry. This trap-of-the-cults is sweetly reminiscent of Brer Rabbit and the Briar patch, except, where the republicans land,will not be so nearly as comfortable as the briars to brer rabbit. The moral of your tale of wisdom, be careful of the bed you make, you may have to sleep in it. thanks for that expose'.
Very good analysis on religion and politics in America. I would say that there are two points that should be taken into account when discussing increasing religion into the political atmosphere:
1. This was not a first move by religious, conservative-minded people. An athiest, increasingly political progressive society started influencing politics directly before the rise of the so-called "christian right". The Christian right was used to being "the norm" and was surprised when progressive movements began chipping away at what they feel America should be.
2. While it's politically saavy to tout your Christian beliefs, it is a mistake to think their religion is what will influence policy. Many (typically on the left) underestimate the distinction between the person's religion and the person. Huckabee speaks well about this. He reminds Americans that while he is a Baptist minister, he not running for Baptist Minister in Chief. His religion is a "part" of what shapes his personal morals and values, but it is not the only thing. Pres. Bush speaks about his faith consistently, and unfortunately many believe his Methodist faith is running this country. That is a sad and ignorant opinion.
Coming out about his "religion" is the only parallel Nutt Romney has to JFK. But the cultist should take note that JFK, who was purchased the White House by his father, took the service to his seriously. He turned his back on Elitists, Military Industrialist, the Mobster Rackets, the Federal Reserve Bankers, and helped push the Democratic Party towards more progress on Civil Rights. Should anyone truly believe Nutt Romney would turn his back on any of his financial backers or the Fascist Elitists that are throwing some tentative support money after him, and genuinely try to restore our Constitution, or relugate the extreme hostile executive power grab Bush has grabbed, they are truly "believers" in "miracles", regardless of their religion!
Given his constant shifting with the political wind, our man Mitt has bigger problems than the fact that he belongs to a, shall we say, rather peculiar religious group.
The larger point is well taken though. It's not that this country has become more religious, it's rather that religion is being exploited much more craftily by the right.
Thank you, Mr. Domke. Willard Romney is not John Kennedy. Never was. Never is. Never will be.
People in this country really do need to wake up.
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