Rick Santorum, still fighting for the Republican presidential nomination, is a desperate man running from another time and getting tripped up in the process. In fact, Santorum has taken hypocrisy to a new level with his recent mischaracterizations about President Barack Obama's views on higher education and President John F. Kennedy's speech on the separation of church and state. Both of these episodes are key to understanding what a Santorum presidency would look like, and why LGBTs in particular should be wary of his candidacy.
Speaking at a Michigan campaign event recently, Santorum said, "President Obama once said he wants everybody in America to go to college. What a snob." He added that students would be "taught by some liberal college professor trying to indoctrinate them." On Sunday's Meet the Press, Santorum tried to explain his comments. "Barack Obama is a person of the left," he said. "He believes in big government." But then he went on to say that he, too, wanted "everyone to have the opportunity to go to college or other institution." So there's not much difference between Santorum and the president on that issue. Obama consistently talks about improving lives through higher education, whether it be college, or some other program; he touted green jobs and the necessary training they entail during his State of the Union speech. Santorum himself has an undergraduate degree, a graduate degree, and a law degree. Moderator David Gregory pointed out that the unemployment rate for folks with a college degree is 4 percent, about half the national average, meaning higher education is generally helpful to stay competitive in the job market or improve one's skills.
Regarding personal faith, however, Santorum is in a league of his own. In 1960, Kennedy, while seeking the presidency, gave a major speech in which he sought to quell Americans' fears that if elected he would take his orders from the Vatican because he was Catholic. In his speech, Kennedy forcefully dispelled any such notion. "I do not speak for my church on public matters and the church doesn't speak for me," he said. He also said he believed in the separation of church and state, reinforcing one of this country's founding principles.
Santorum has a twist on that, too, somehow interpreting Kennedy's remarks to mean that no person of faith could ever participate in public life or politics. That is not remotely what Kennedy was talking about. Our faith leaders have a long, proud, and important history advancing civil rights, the peace movement, and other social justice causes, as Santorum himself noted. Just last month, LGBT and allied faith leaders led a march from the federal courthouse to San Francisco City Hall after the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that Proposition 8 is unconstitutional. Kennedy was saying that he would be an American first, independent of the Vatican and the pope.
Given these views, it was fascinating to watch Santorum's concession speech in Michigan Tuesday night, when he did a complete reversal and lauded his 93-year-old mother, who earned undergraduate and graduate college degrees and worked all of her life outside the home in the Veterans Administration (a government job if there ever was one). "She was unusual," Santorum said, in his understated attempt at rebranding his campaign, trying to dig himself out of the rabbit holes of the past week.
We're not sure whether Santorum actually believes all the crazy things he's saying. He most definitely would try to impose his morality on the country, whether it is contraception (against it), marriage equality (against it), or a host of other social issues. Santorum idealizes the 1950s, when gays were largely closeted, women generally didn't work outside the home if they were married and had children, blacks had trouble getting decent jobs, and, of course, the South was segregated. But we have news for Santorum: you can't go backwards and you can't continue to be a contrarian on the campaign trail. You've got to make sense.