I'm generally non-partisan when it comes to America's First Ladies. From Pat Nixon to Laura Bush, I have sympathized with the roles that our First Ladies have found themselves in and have been impressed with how well, in my lifetime anyway, they have handled the pressures and frequently silly and outdated expectations. I can nitpick about a few infamous issues, but overall, I've been pleased.
But when it comes to one First Lady wannabe, I could muster no such sympathy. I dreaded the possibility of having to see Ann Romney on my television screen off and on for several years almost as much as I feared having to suffer her husband's governance. From "I don’t even consider myself wealthy" to "We’ve given all you people need to know," to this gem--
I love the fact that there are women out there who don’t have a choice and they must go to work and they still have to raise the kids. Thank goodness that we value those people too. And sometimes life isn’t easy for any of us.
Ouch.
But alas, the Washington Post underscores just how gullible and deluded Mrs. Romney really is.
By all accounts, the past month has been most difficult on Romney’s wife, Ann, who friends said believed up until the end that ascending to the White House was their destiny. They said she has been crying in private and trying to get back to riding her horses.
Destiny? Didn't Mitt Romney dismiss the
White Horse Prophesy--a belief passed down by some Mormon church leaders that a Mormon would rise to the Presidency to save us from ourselves?
"We were taught that America is the Promised Land," [seventh-generation Mormon and author Michael Moody] said in an interview. "The Mormons are the Chosen People. And the time is now for a Mormon leader to usher in the second coming of Christ and install the political Kingdom of God in Washington, D.C."
In this scenario, Romney’s candidacy is part of the eternal plan and the candidate himself is fulfilling the destiny begun in what the church calls the "pre-existence."
...
"I don’t think the White Horse Prophecy is fair to bring up at all," Mitt Romney told the Salt Lake Tribune when he was asked about it during his 2008 presidential bid. "It’s been rejected by every church leader that has talked about it. It has nothing to do with anything."
Evidently, the idea wasn't rejected by Ann Romney. To the contrary.
Maybe I can muster some sympathy for her after all.