Dear Commons Community,

I have been trying to figure out Rick Santorum’s comment about President Barack Obama and “phony theology”.  I did not get it.  If you missed it,  in a speech to Tea Party conservatives on Saturday in Columbus, Ohio, Santorum had dismissed Obama’s politics as being based in “some phony theology.”

“It’s not about you. It’s not about your quality of life. It’s not about your jobs,” Santorum said. “It’s about some phony ideal, some phony theology. Oh, not a theology based on the Bible. A different theology.”

It seems I am not alone.  Yesterday on Meet the Press, the  host, Bob Schieffer began his interview with Santorum by asking, “What in the world were you talking about?”  Santorum’s reply:

“I’ve repeatedly said I don’t question the president’s faith, …I’ve repeatedly said that I believe the president’s Christian — he says he’s Christian. But I am talking about his worldview, the way he addresses problems in this country, and they’re different than most people view it in America.”

“I was talking about the radical environmentalists,” Santorum said, suggesting that they believe man should protect the earth, rather than “steward its resources.” “I think that is a phony ideal. I don’t believe that’s what we’re here to do … We’re not here to serve the earth. That is not the objective, man is the objective.”

Sorry I still don’t get it. This morning on Morning Joe (MSNBC), six news and media people were still trying to figure out what Santorum meant.

Tony