The 2004 election was even worse. It was almost feral in its fixation upon personal weakness. Kerry supporters seemed less attracted to their man than nauseated by his opponent's persona. Bush voters appeared to be revolted by Kerry as a human being — preferable, perhaps, to repudiating him for being a Catholic, but not by much.

The politics of identity, then, has given way to one of style. Racial, religious and gender stereotyping are now impermissible, but there is no penalty for labeling on the basis of speech patterns, mannerisms, dress or "gaffes" whipped up by the media. Smith's nasal New York accent, not his religion, would doom his candidacy today.

The journalistic flurry over the Mormon faith of Romney is thus misplaced. Romney can dispel concerns about the independence of his political judgments with one well-placed speech reminiscent of Kennedy's address to the ministers of Houston in 1960. What he cannot dispel will be voter perceptions based on matters as trivial as his posture or jawline. Just one word is all it takes.

Romney is surely aware that the presidential hopes of his father, former Michigan Gov. George Romney, were dashed not by his ties to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, but by a single, ill-advised word. Romney was the front-runner for the 1968 Republican presidential nomination when he stated that he had earlier been "brainwashed" into supporting the Vietnam War. He meant that U.S. military officials had been duplicitous regarding the prospects for victory, but no matter. Romney was immediately branded as naive and weak. His candidacy never recovered.

This scenario is what George Romney's son, and all 2008 presidential hopefuls, must fear: not that they will be rejected for who they are, but for how they resonate in a culture that accords equal weight to a presidential pronouncement on Afghanistan and the death of Anna Nicole Smith. The identity politics that sank Al Smith and nearly did in Kennedy is no more, but in its place is a visceral politics that substitutes one set of prejudices for another. Mitt Romney's electability now hinges more on his haircut than his religion. I'm not sure we should be celebrating.

---

Jerald Podair is a professor of history and American studies at Lawrence University.