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Mitt the Mormon

Posted February. 02, 2012 01:03,   

한국어

In his book “Power Elite” published in 1956, American socialist Wright Mills called America "a society that is dominated by a few elites who are mostly "WASPs (white Anglo-Saxon Protestants)." They dominated the top 200 U.S. companies and politics until the mid-20th century. Nowadays, WASP is used to sarcastically refer to minor interest groups.

John F. Kennedy was Catholic and his election as the 35th U.S. president in 1960 marked the end of political dominance by WASPs. In his presidential campaign, Kennedy said he was not a Catholic presidential candidate, but one who happens to be Catholic. The dominance of white people in the White House ended in 2008 as Barack Obama beat John McCain to become the 44th American president. People called him “The black Kennedy,” not because he became president in his 40s as a Senate member, but because he was non-mainstream.

Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney won a decisive victory in the Republican primary in Florida Tuesday. He is a Mormon. Romney has won just four out of the 50 states and 87 among 1,144 representatives, but the U.S. political arena is considering him an acceptable Republican presidential candidate. He has a Harvard MBA degree, has served as Massachusetts governor, headed the Salt Lake Winter Olympics Committee, and worked as CEO of Bain and Company.

Romney lost to McCain in the 2008 Republican candidate race. Despite his stellar professional background, he could not overcome questions over his religion. Mormonism officially bans bigamy but certain fundamentalists still practice polygamy, causing negative views. Former U.S. Ambassador to China Jon Huntsman, who is also Mormon, withdrew from the race for the Republican presidential nomination and backed Romney. Are the American people ready to embrace a Mormon president? If they do, he could write a new chapter in American history.

Editorial Writer Ha Tae-won (triplets@donga.com)