Romney's Speech At Liberty University A Hit With Evangelicals And Atheists

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By Jared Allebest
Conservative Samizdat

Mitt Romney's speech at Liberty University has been well received by Evangelical leaders:

“I thought it was a really good speech,” said Tony Perkins, the president of the Family Research Council, who had backed Mr. Santorum. “He hit on the religious freedom aspect, again recognizing the shared values while acknowledging the theological differences he has with them. I think he made very clear what marriage is, and in the context of his speech, he spoke about the importance of marriage and the family, even giving a hat tip to Senator Santorum.”

“I don’t think I could have improved upon the speech,” he added.

Gary L. Bauer, president of the Christian advocacy group American Values, who had strongly pushed for Mr. Santorum, said this speech would help assuage the concerns of evangelical Christians.

“I thought it was a home run, and I think so will most values voters,” he said. “He also clearly stood for the sanctity of life, clearly stood for the traditional definition of marriage, and I think importantly, encouraged the students to be bold and stand for those kinds of values, too. I think it’s going to be hard for critics to find much in this to criticize.” 

Mitt Romney's speech helped turn those who were lukewarm about his candidacy into strong supporters for him:

His staunch opposition to same-sex marriage, which provided one of the rare political moments in the speech, is helping Romney build a bridge to evangelicals, who hopscotched from one candidate to another in the primaries while shunning the front-runner.  Phil Burress, president of Citizens for Community Values, told the Washington Post recently, “So many people were rather lukewarm toward Governor Romney and were really looking for some more tangible reasons to support him. Then lo and behold, it just fell out of the sky when Obama came out and endorsed same-sex marriage.”

Even those who are associated with Liberty University wereimpressed with Mitt Romney:

Romney, even as a guest, was initially treated as an outsider at Liberty. The announcement that he would be the commencement speaker prompted an uproar. A graduation Facebook page was overrun with hundreds of posts objecting to the choice.

But on Saturday, the crowd received him warmly and Jerry Falwell Jr., the son of the founder who now heads the school, called Romney “the next president of the United States.” The university presented Romney with a chair, engraved with, “There’s always room for you at our table.”

Romney’s message struck the right chord with Dean Shelton, a 74-year-old retiree who lives in Lynchburg. Common faith is important, Shelton said, but shared values are even more so. “What I liked about it was that he had the right philosophy on life that we share,” he said.  “We’re not electing a minister, we’re electing a president.”  

For Craig and Rene Yoshino, who traveled from Seattle to see their daughter graduate, the candidate’s references to culture and traditional marriage were essential, although neither believes that Mormonism is a segment of Christianity.

 “It’s what matters for salvation, but not for the presidency,” he said. “Between Obama and Romney, Romney fits more closely with us.”

Mitt's speech also surprised many atheists since he included them in his speech and which lead many of them to be supportive of his speech. For many Atheists, having a conservative candidate reach out to them and acknowledge them is something that is "so abnormal to hear in conservative circles that it qualifies as something worth noting."

As a result, Mitt Romney's speech is resonating with alot of people because he's seeking to find common ground with all Americans even if they have different religious, political and social views. Its clear that Romney isn't seeking to be a Pastor in Chief or even to make a name for himself as the first Mormon in the White House. Our nation is a republic in which the government should represent the interests of all the people, rather than just a select few. Mitt speech shows that Romney is the leader America wants in which he will lead our country on the basis of values and beliefs that are common to most people.
Mitt Romney sincerely, genuinely and strongly wants to be a leader for all Americans and help get America back to excellent economic health so that people can have jobs, pay their bills, support their families and make a difference in their communities.

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