Interesting op-ed in Newsweek from Ronald Reagan’s daughter, Patti:

“We are being told that a competent, trustworthy president is someone who brandishes his religion like a neon sign, loads a gun and goes out hunting for beautiful winged creatures, and tries to imitate a past president (who, by the way, never shot a bird or felt the need to imitate anybody).”
– Patti Davis

On Friday’s “Today Show,” Mitt Romney again brandished my father’s name, and claimed that, just as Ronald Reagan ended the Cold War, Romney can effectively govern and manage foreign policy in this horribly troubled world.

This, of course, was preceded by Romney’s televised speech about his religion and his personal faith — something my father would never have dreamed of doing because his faith was, well, personal.

Putting Reagan and religion aside, there’s another great issue consuming the 2008 campaign. Who is the more authentic, experienced hunter? Romney has claimed to be a “lifelong hunter.” Huckabee said liar, liar, pants on fire (OK, not his exact words, but close) because Romney has only ventured out twice to slaughter animals. “I think it was a major mistake,” said Huckabee, a former Arkansas governor. “It would be like me saying I’ve been a lifelong golfer because I played putt-putt when I was nine years old and I rode in a golf cart a couple of times.” Oh great, now the candidates are worried about miniature golf.

To prove his virility, Huckabee has been photographed in those ridiculous hunting clothes holding a large rifle and several dead pheasants. Lest we forget about God, Huckabee’s campaign offered up a special Christmas advertisement –complete with the now famous “floating cross” behind him — something Huckabee has said was simply a bookcase. Yes, with the books removed and lit with a golden glow that looked like the Star of Bethlehem had been summoned for duty in a political ad.

So, apparently, we are being told that a competent, trustworthy president is someone who brandishes his religion like a neon sign, loads a gun and goes out hunting for beautiful winged creatures, and tries to imitate a past president (who, by the way, never shot a bird or felt the need to imitate anybody).

Davis closes by wishing that we could “leave the ducks, the rabbits, the deer alone, and focus on a world that is aching with strife, that is weighed down by wars and conflicts, not to mention disease and hunger in vast stretches of Africa” — and by suggesting that “imitation is not the sincerest form of flattery; it’s just an indication that the imitator is going through a serious identity crisis.”