Yesterday saw Mitt Romney cruise to an easy victory in Nevada’s presidential primary and thus added to the growing consensus that it would take a miracle to stop him from becoming the Republican nominee for President. But if it really is Romney vs. Obama, and right now it’s looking all but certain it will be, then this is major history that I’m betting neither man will bring up. It is the first time in U.S. presidential history that there hasn’t been a WASP candidate for president.
A WASP or White Anglo Saxon Protestant has occupied the White House for all but two times in our nation’s history. First with JFK narrowly beating out Richard Nixon and becoming the first Catholic president in history. Then, of course, with Barack Obama himself becoming the nation’s first black president as I’m sure there is no one on the planet who doesn’t know.
Yet in both times when a non-WASP occupied the White House, there was a protestant candidate like Nixon or McCain running against them, but not this time. As much as Romney goes on and on talking about himself as a Christian who believes in Jesus Christ, I don’t think even the most desperate-to-seem-normal Mormons would consider themselves Protestants. Christians? Ehh…they say yes but every evangelical says hell no. But Protestants? I don’t think even they could make that sell.
And in an interesting side fact, NONE of the top GOP candidates left standing are WASPs. So even if Romney doesn’t get the nomination through some freak accident, both Newt Gingrich and Rick Santorum are Catholics. Which is unprecedented for the spectacularly WASPy Republican party to not have a single WASP candidate anywhere near the top (and no I don’t count Ron Paul) with the non-WASPy Jon Huntsman and Herman Cain having already dropped out.
So let this be one for the history books. The first presidential election in the history of the United State with no WASP candidate. And also the first where no one might realize this because Mitt Romney is so old time WASP it’s hard to tell the difference.