Democrats' omission of the word 'God' gives Republicans talking point

When Democrats removed the word "God" from their platform at the recent Democratic National Convention, only to re-inserted it a short time later, following massive criticism, Republicans seized the opportunity to use the incident against their political rivals.

As reported by The Week, Mitt Romney brought up the convention-floor fight over the controversy during an appearance the Republican presidential nominee made with TV evangelist Pat Robertson at an old airplane hangar in Virginia, on Saturday. Romney suggested that Obama would remove the words, "In God We Trust," from U.S. currency. Then in reference to the pledge of allegiance, which Romney had just led moments before, the Republican presidential nominee said, "That pledge says 'under God.' I will not take God out of our platform. I will not take God off our coins. And I will not take God out of my heart."

Obama spokeswoman Jennifer Psaki rebuffed the comments, saying that Obama "believes as much that God should be taken off a coin as he does that aliens will attack Florida."

In light of the public outcry over the Democrats temporarily erasing the word "God," along with their reluctance to proclaim Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, this tactic by Republicans of playing the God card would seem to be a good strategy. However, bringing up religion may not be the best move for Romney. Besides the fact that talking about religion could create an opening for Obama surrogates to pounce on Romney's Mormon faith, according to No More Mr. Nice Blog, this could also distract significantly from the topic of the economy, which Republicans are trying so hard to keep at the forefront of voters' minds.

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