Romney's Surrender

My problem with Mitt Romney is not what he said a couple of days ago in College Station but that he felt he had to say anything at all.

The way I understand it, our founding fathers came up with this "separation of church and state" bit so that one religion could not be a dominant one in a public policy realm, and so that religion in and of itself would not be a test for political candidates. But, unfortunately, that is what has happened.

As a Jew, I am concerned that we are forcing presidential candidates like Romney to defend his Christianity or that John McCain has to go around calling the United States "a Christian nation." This is not what the framers of the Constitution had in mind.

The New York Times says today in a wonderfully crafted editorial that Republicans are forced into stances like this because they are being held hostage by Christian fundamentalists who are "determined to impose (their) religious tenets as a test for holding public office."

That's not right and the test of leadership is not speeches like Romney's but someone standing up and saying this is not right.

But, then, it's been close to 40 years since I have seen anyone I considered a courageous leader running for President. Why should I expect that to change now?