Back Talk: Romney, Faith and the Media

'Romney's Journey': Readers commented on what they viewed as the undue emphasis on Mitt Romney's Mormon faith. One said, "As an agnostic, libertarian-oriented independent, I was prepared not to like Mitt Romney. But after reading your cover story, I found him to be a principled, hardworking family man with deep values. I just might consider voting for him." Another described her measure of the man. "I really don't care if someone is a Mormon, a Methodist or a Catholic. After all, our country believes in a separation of church and state."

On abortion: From a NEWSWEEK.com Live Talk on "A New Ambivalence."

Clayton, Mo.: Do you think that abortion will ever cease to be a polarizing issue? Is there any scientific advancement that might tell us once and for all when life begins?
NEWSWEEK'S Debra Rosenberg: Scientific advancement—particularly ultrasound and advances in treating the youngest preemies (as early as 22 weeks in one unusual case)—has changed what many Americans think about fetal development and what's acceptable in terms of abortion. But the question of when "life" begins and when "personhood" begins and how you balance that against the rights of a person already living (the mother) is a much thornier problem. I don't think science will ever solve that in a way that both sides can agree on.

On 'Just Don't Call Me Mr. Mom': "You know how many people told me I was crazy ? Yeah, I spent some savings but I would not trade this experience of being at home with my son for the world. Your article helped convince me I wasn't alone. Good stuff."
Steve Holt
Fredericksburg, Va.

A Mormon ' s Quest for President

We've researched and analyzed journalism articles on Mormonism from the past 100 years. Your Oct. 8 article "Mitt's Mission" is the best we've seen at portraying Mormons not as stereotypes but as complex and thinking Americans. Thank you for pointing to the strange political regression that makes Mormonism a much bigger obstacle for a presidential candidate now than it was 40 years ago, when George Romney ran for the Republican nomination. You're right that Mitt Romney's Mormonism is essential to his public authenticity, and sure, some will find parts of that heritage strange. But other elements speak poignantly to America's common experience. It's a shame Romney plays down even the positive aspects while moving away from his father's example of pluralistic political integrity.
than Yorgason and Chiung Hwang Chen
Laie, Hawaii

When it seemed that everyone else in the country was asking themselves whether they could vote for a Mormon, I was asking myself if I could vote for a Republican. For the first time in 40 years, I was hoping to be able to do so. Sadly, I concluded "not for this Republican." I'm a Mormon, complete with polygamy and persecution in my heritage and prejudice in my personal experience. I flew to Paris on the same plane with Mitt Romney as a missionary in 1966, hence my interest in voting for him. Romney at first blush seemed a thoughtful, pragmatic, middle-of-the-road possibility, but I was quickly disillusioned when he scrambled to package himself as a man of the religious right. The rock-ribbed ethical basics of Mormon theology and practice don't appear to have translated well to the political arena. I'm sorry to say that the conclusions of your writers match mine. If Romney can't or won't accept the ramifications of his faith—much less be honest about his social or political views, then there's little hope for him as a candidate.
Richard Butler
Tucson, Ariz.

Thank you for exposing the real Mitt Romney. Let's see—in the late 1960s, he gave two years to his faith while his peers were trying to decide whether to inhale. He married his high-school sweetheart, had five sons he raised on the value of hard work and is still faithful to their mother. He graduated from Harvard, ran a hugely successful company and continued serving his faith and community. He entered public life after he made enough to fund his own campaigns and not be the pawn of special interests. You state: "In fairness, it is true that Romney has the stuff of great presidents somewhere inside him." When was the last time we saw such "stuff" in a president?
Tom Thomas
Las Vegas, Nev.

NEWSWEEK uses the negative "flip-flop" tag for Mitt Romney. Don't Americans want leaders who have the intellectual and moral capacity to analyze differing opinions, consider all available data, then have the strength and humility to have both a course of action and a change of heart? Isn't that what Democrats are demanding of President Bush? Do we want rigid or reasonable? When someone has the intellectual competence and integrity Mitt Romney does, the willingness to flip-flop doesn't stem from political convenience, but from a leader who can listen and respond to a reasonable debate of the issues.
Sharlene Hawkes
Centerville, Utah

As an agnostic, fiscally conservative, yet socially liberal voter, I did not read your analysis of Mitt Romney with any need to like him. Yet your article seemed determined to subtly undermine his candidacy, paragraph by biased paragraph. Like Romney, I live a rather strait-laced life, but I don't begrudge other people their choices. Like Ann and Mitt Romney, my husband and I strove to raise moral children in an R-rated world. Unlike Romney, I have no core religion, but I allow others to have a religious faith without my need to understand or to deconstruct it.
Mary Jane Vogel-Friend
Jackson, Wyo.

As a Mormon democrat, I probably won't be voting for Mitt Romney. However, I am astonished and upset by the way he is treated in the media. He has chosen not to highlight his religion because, correctly, it is a personal matter. Why focus on it? Romney is not alone in considering his religion a private issue. Rudy Giuliani and John McCain don't emphasize their religiosity either. And yet NEWSWEEK chooses to run a cover story on Romney's religion. Examine his positions on the war in Iraq, taxes, education, boosting the economy and other important issues for the American electorate. But don't single him out because of his faith. As members of a religion that has been around since 1830, we have proved ourselves to be honest, upright and patriotic Americans. It's sad that, 177 years later, we must still defend our beliefs.
Veronica Fratta
Castle rock, Colo.

Having worked at Bain Capital for five of the Mitt Romney years, I can comment on Romney's ability to look at a problem, weigh the options and get the job done, all with very little fanfare. In the early 1990s, the 14-year-old daughter of a colleague disappeared. Romney called a meeting with his partners and announced that the entire office would travel to New York the following morning to mount a search. The work simply stopped; the business became a search-and-rescue operation. Teams were organized, game plans were made, and we found her safe and sound. Soon after, the national media started calling. Romney has never been one to toot his own horn. He turned down all interviews, save one with a local television station. That was it. Mission accomplished.
Bonnie McElroy Weber
Newport, R.I.

Will Kids Have Health Insurance?

I applaud George Will's Oct. 8 "Sleepwalking Toward DD-Day" analysis of the deplorable issues surrounding the State Children's Health Insurance Program debate. His logic rings true throughout. At the same time, I still can't?erase from my mind the?images of Want and Ignorance, depicted as children by Charles Dickens in "A Christmas Carol." Will our nation's children forever be held hostage by politics? If the?congressional Democrats are responsible this time, then shame on them.
Gregg Miller
Fort Myers, Fla.

George Will is worried about structural deficits in retirement and health-care programs for aging baby boomers. Where was he when the conservative, budget-surplus, peace-and-prosperity policies of President Bill Clinton were replaced by the radical policies of borrow-and-spend Republicans? Where was he when the Republicans trashed their inherited budget surpluses; instituted radical tax cuts to throw a party for themselves and their wealthy friends and campaign contributors, and add more than $4 trillion to the debt? Why do Will's words not include criticism of the Republican-created Medicare drug benefit that will increase America's debt by $720 billion over just its first 10 years, and outlawed Medicare price negotiations with drug companies? George Will's ignoring the Republican $720 billion drug benefit that covers even wealthy Americans while attacking the proposed $35 billion health-care program for mostly children of the working poor demonstrates the hypocrisy and moral bankruptcy of Republican policy.
Harvey C. Perry II
Westerly, R.I.

In Praise of Stay-at-Home Dads

Many thanks to Brian Braiker for his Oct. 8 article "Just Don't Call Me Mr. Mom." I am a stay-at-home dad by choice; my wife had the better job, so when our daughter was born it made sense for me to stay home. How often I have cringed when I tell someone I'm a full-time father, and their response is: "Ooh, Mr. Mom, eh?" I usually squeeze out a forced smile, and say, "Nope. I'm Mr. Dad." It's amazing that in this day and age, when a working woman is such an ordinary sight, a dad who chooses to stay at home is considered such a curiosity. I'm sure most of those people who so glibly refer to me as Mr. Mom would never in a million years walk up to a woman in the workplace and say, "So, where are the kiddies? Shouldn't you be at home?" It was comforting and encouraging to read the stories of other dads who—gasp!—enjoy being dads.
Cory Howell
Nashville, Tenn.

My incredible?17- and 14-year-old daughters are a testament to their father's primary caregiving the past 12 years. I'm certain they would not be the outstanding young women they are today if it were not for Bruce, their dad, and my loving husband of 23 years. In fact, I would not be the woman, wife, mom and executive I am today without the sacrifice he made for all of us many years ago when he gave up his career as a full-time?public-relations executive to raise his children and run our household full time.
Judy Hackett
Atlanta, Ga.

I am disappointed with the way your article criticized the dads of my generation for not being "involved in their child's care." I am 63 with two sons, 33 and 31. I changed diapers, bathed them, read books, prepared meals, assisted with homework, took them to appointments, attended and coached various sports, played with them and was an officer in their school PTA, all while working a full-time job. So don't go touting how wonderful these fathers—who can take an extended time off work—are as caregivers. I also had the opportunity this summer to take care of my then 8-month-old grandchild, who lives out of state, for several days. While I hadn't changed a diaper, fed or bathed a child in 30 years, it was not hard for this "old dad" to reacquire the skills. And, just for your information, my son—while working a full-time job—does all the things the dads in your article are doing.
David Martin
Prescott, Ariz.

"Just Don't Call Me Mr. Mom" dances around the real male-female issues surrounding child rearing and shared life in general. For the most part, these men interact with their children as a choice. For most women, it isn't a matter of choice. Certain things have to get done, and the women get left with those things the men in their lives choose not to do. We will not be an equitable society until we acknowledge that there are a certain amount of things that need to be done to make life work, and that none of these things is gender-specific.
Gail M. Upton
River Falls, Wis.

Correction

In "Would You Buy a Used Hawk From This Man?" (Oct. 15), several captions for photographs in an accompanying graphic ("Rudy's Right Hands") were inadvertently transposed. Martin Kramer's photograph is identified as Norman Podhoretz; Daniel Pipes's photograph is identified as Kramer; Peter Berkowitz's photograph is identified as Pipes; Nile Gardiner's photograph is identified as Berkowitz's, and Podhoretz's photograph is identified as Gardiner's.

We said that Jenna Bush had flashed the devil's horns, a favorite hand sign of Ozzy Osbourne's, during an official First Family appearance ("Daughter, Twin, Author," Oct. 8). In fact, the gesture is also the University of Texas Longhorns-inspired "Hook 'em Horns" hand signal. Jenna Bush graduated from there in 2004. NEWSWEEK regrets the errors.