Letter to editor about Huckabee (re: Cohen)

The following letter to the editor by me was published in the local newspaper December 11:

Huckabee took honest way out

In his Dec. 5 column ("Huckabee's moment of shame"), Richard Cohen accused former Gov. Mike Huckabee of "punting" when ABC's George Stephanopoulos asked if former Gov. Mitt Romney, a Mormon, is a Christian.

Cohen also accused Huckabee of having obdurate and narrow-minded religious beliefs.

I suggest that Cohen has a narrow-minded view of Christianity and Huckabee.

Huckabee told Stephanopoulos, "Mitt Romney has to answer that. ... It's not for me to determine what somebody else's faith is."

He was stating common Christian beliefs that each person has to account for his own faith, and you can't judge what is in others' hearts. Moreover, Huckabee left ministry long ago to become a public servant. He is running to be president of a multi-faith United States, not evangelical-in-chief.

Huckabee's style is to avoid tearing down others — as he declined to do to Rudy Giuliani in the same interview. He is trying to focus instead on issues and a vision for America.

Echoing Cohen's football reference, I think Cohen fumbled the ball with this column.