Sanitizing Santorum

I'm getting tired of always hearing about Rick Santorum’s humble background, that his grandfather was a coal miner, so he can easily identify with working class voters.

Why is it never brought out that his father was a clinical psychologist and his mother a nurse? (Both worked for Veterans Administration hospitals.) D’ya think it's because coming from educated, decently well-off parents might shatter Rick’s working stiff image?

Pundits were quick to point out Santorum has three higher education degrees and his older children attend college, even as he mocked President Obama for advocating post-high school education or training for everyone. But I’ve yet to hear anyone talk about his parents.

Santorum’s choice to ignore for the most part his parents’ background in favor of his grandfather’s is just the latest Republican camouflage of not so presidential behavior. Ron Paul disavowed bigoted newsletters that went out under his name for years. Newt Gingrich twice cheated on wives, even as he now professes to be religious and a faithful defender of marriage.

Santorum and his wife of 21 years, Karen Garver, are hyped as a model couple, with seven living children, all home schooled. But imagine, if you will, what Republicans would say about Michelle Obama if she had had an affair with a doctor 40 years her senior. And not just any doctor. This physician not only was the obstetrician who delivered Karen as a baby but also, during their six year relationship, was an abortion provider. GOP leaders and pundits would be excoriating Michelle if this had been her. But nary a word is said about Karen Garver’s years-long flirtation with Dr. Tom Allen of Pittsburgh.

Aside from policy, politics is an industry built on image. Newt may truly have loved each wife during her time with him, but his callousness in tossing them aside underscored his political treachery when he was a leader of the House Republicans. He gave his word to support a tax increase compromise under George Bush 1, then reneged on the deal when it came up for a vote. Ron Paul can’t say he was unaware of the newsletters, that they went out just once. His failure to stop their continued distribution spotlights his latent, true feelings. Santorum, and his wife, can claim to be straight-arrow Catholics. But let’s not be ready to superimpose their values on the rest of society.