Will Obama Court the Anti-Mormon Vote?

Going along with the recent Mormon theme, I read an interesting piece today in the liberal blog, "The Daily Beast."  I thought it was worthy of discussion.  Here's an excerpt:

"There are votes in anti-Mormonism, but the Obama administration must resist any temptation to play on it.  ...
It's important that Barack Obama wins this election, but for the country's sake, it's important that Mormonism not lose."

Here's a link to the full article:

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2012/04/23/democrats-have-bigger-anti-mormon-problem-in-election-than-gop.html

So here are my questions.  If Mitt Romney wins, could that be viewed as a positive step toward a post-bigoted society similar to the way many viewed Obama's 2008 win as a positive step toward a post-racist society?  If Mitt loses, how big a factor will his religion play into that?  Also, what do you think about this author's observation about it still being very much socially acceptable to be anti-Mormon, and will that dynamic manifest itself in people's responses to poll questions?

The Mormon Moment - Mitt Romney and Jabari Parker

Because I know all of you are basketball fans and Mormons, I wanted to bring your attention to an up and coming basketball star. His name is Jabari Parker out of Simeon High School in Chicago, Illinois. Jabari was just named Gatorade National Boys Basketball Player of the Year...as a Junior in high school. I first found out about Jabari last year when he was a sophomore and was able to watch one of his games on ESPN back in December. Some people have called him the next Kobe Bryant. However, Jabari lives by the mantra "Basketball is what I do, not who I am."

"Parker has maintained a 3.63 weighted GPA in the classroom and ranks 18th in his class of 377 students. The principal-appointed President of Student Representatives with the Local School Council, he donates his time as a youth basketball instructor and has volunteered locally with Operation PUSH (People United to Serve Humanity), the Salvation Army and the New Beginnings Church. He is also a seminary bible study student and a senior citizen youth ambassador in association with the Church of Jesus Christ Latter Day Saints Hyde Park Ward. He will begin his senior year of high school this fall and remains undecided on a college destination."

Keep your eyes out for Jabari as an up and coming basketball star over the next few years. You can read more about Jabari on the ESPN article where some of this information came from, or various other articles that have been written about him for the past two years.

http://espn.go.com/high-school/boys-basketball/story/_/id/7804376/jabari-parker-named-gatorade-national-boys-basketball-player-year

Santorum Exitorum

So Rick Santorum is officially out. Creighton, did you do this? Many people will be really sad to see him leave the race. Up on the list of down in the mouth will be Jim Messina, who is Pres. Obama's campaign manager. I would like to hear how Occupy this handicaps the race based on economic numbers. Isn't the economy at the end of the second quarter determinative? Let us know.