For a candidate who has repeated that his Mormon faith should not be a barrier in his bid for the presidency of the United States and that ones religion should not be a litmus test for national service Mitt Romney’s response to a question concerning the possibility of appointing a qualified Muslim to his cabinet is deeply troubling.Mansur Ijaz, an American-Muslim and security analyst, reported in the Christian Science Monitor that he approached Romney after a fundraiser in Las Vegas and asked him if he would consider naming a qualified Muslim to a foreign relations related position in his cabinet and Romney responded by saying:
“Based on the numbers of American Muslims in our population, I cannot see that a Cabinet position would be justified. But of course, I would imagine that Muslims could serve at lower levels of my administration.”
Romney that went on to clarify his statement by saying this in Florida:
“His question was: ‘Do I need to have a Muslim in my Cabinet to be able to confront radical jihad and would it be important to have a Muslim in my Cabinet?'” Mr. Romney said, according to ABC News. “And I said no. I don’t think that you have to have a Muslim in the Cabinet to be able to take on radical jihad.”
Certainly, neither demographics nor religion should be the criteria for service at the highest level of government. Given all the undeserving hoopla concerning his Mormon faith and his reactions to that his response to the question of Mansur Ijaz is a little like the pot calling the kettle black.
The Crescent Report 