That Mitt Romney...

By EDUARDO PAZ-MARTINEZ
The Paz Files

Whenever Americans want to talk-down anyone, they always look critically at a person's past, at his ancestors and at what the family may have done back home. We are a nation of immigrants, the citizenry having come from all posts of the globe. President Barack Obama has African roots by way of his father, although his mother was a native of this country.

Hay is forever being made about that, some Far Right dolts even questioning his birthplace just because we, as free Americans, can question any damned thing we want to question. Obama has said he was born in Hawaii, and records seem to prove it. But we're also a nation of critics.

We'll see how that plays out for front-running Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney.

He has deep and well-defined roots in Mexico.

His great-grandfather, the Mormon Miles Park Romney, left the U.S. in 1885 to avoid polygamy laws, helping to settle a variety of Mormon expatriate colonies (see "colonias" in map shown above) in the harsh Chihuahuan desert with his four wives. They bore him 30 children. Romney's grandfather did the same thing.

It is a peculiarly America thing to diss anyone by way of his or her ancestral background. Of course, the larger portion of today's Americans have roots elsewhere in the world. That criticism aimed at the president always was laughable, but it created the so-called birther movement that, to the extremists, seemed cause enough for impeachment. We'll see how Romney fares with those Americans who cannot stand to look south of the border.

Romney, a former governor of Massachusetts, has not said much about his grandfather or great-grandfather. In fact, the Mormon angle has been lapped on the other Mormon Republican in the nomination hunt - Jon Huntsman, who at least acknowledges his Utah roots in those neat motorcyle-ride-through-the-mountain political advertisements. Mitt Romney has largely flown under the radar on the Mormon issue, although it surfaced early in the 2008 GOP campaign, when he left the race after a dismal showing in the South Carolina primary.

It's okay to look at any candidate's past. Some are just not worthy. But, short of an Al Capone, it should never be the sole deciding factor. George W. Bush and his dad became president even though George's grandfather, Prescott, had a clearly affection for Nazi Germany. But, then, so did American hero Charles Lindbergh. Romney's Mexican connection might even help him with Hispanic voters if he avails himself of it. But he won't. Too many Republicans, the very base of the conservative party, are not interested in enlisting Hispanics as a large bloc. They'll take the tokens, like Florida U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio and Georgia businessman Herman Cain.

So, it'll be interesting to see how Romney finishes in this race.

Truth be told, he is a much safer Republican candidate than are Michele Bachmann, Rick Santorum and Texas secessionist Governor Rick Perry...

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