Republican presidential candidate - and devout Mormon - Mitt Romney gave a much-anticipated speech Thursday titled "Faith in America." Though he could have used the opportunity to elaborate upon his own religious convictions, he chose instead to simply acknowledge that he does have them. Rather than discuss this undisputed fact, Romney should have assured Americans that his specific religious views would not in any way affect his ability to govern. He opted instead to deliver what amounted to little more than a weak, "Hey, at least I'm not an atheist."

Romney very deliberately sought to compare himself to John F. Kennedy, a devout Catholic who aimed to overcome public opinion in 1960 with a now-famous speech on his faith. "Almost 50 years ago, another candidate from Massachusetts explained that he was an American running for president, not a Catholic running for president," Romney said. "Like him, I am an American running for president. I do not define my candidacy by my religion."

But the comparison does not work. "JFK wanted to particularly stress that he believed in the separation between church and state," former Kennedy aide Ted Sorenson told CNN. "He believed ... that freedom of religion included freedom for those to go to any church or to not go to any church at all." Romney, on the other hand, emphasized the role of religion, probably mollifying the religious right but failing to explain his personal beliefs or thoughts about the function of religion in public life.

Jon Krakauer, whose recent bestseller "Under The Banner of Heaven" delved deeply into Mormonism, may have summarized the speech best in a New York Times column by Maureen Dowd. "JFK's speech was to reassure Americans that he wasn't a religious fanatic," he said. "Mitt's was to tell evangelical Christians, ǃÚI'm a religious fanatic just like you.'"