Latest Romney ad fits religious freedom and foreign policy in 30 seconds

The latest Romney ad, "Be Not Afraid," featuring footage from Mitt and Ann Romney's recent trip to Poland, has a short but powerful message about religious freedom:

YouTube | mittromney | Be Not Afraid

The ad shows Lech Walesa, the President of Poland who helped usher his homeland from communism to freedom, and Pope John Paul II, who was himself from Poland originally and was an invaluable ally to countries like Poland who sought to break free from communist oppression.

In the ad, Romney quotes Pope John Paul II's famous words of encouragement during the Cold War, "Be Not Afraid," as an illustration of his stance against President's Obama's efforts to force religious institutions to violate their beliefs under his health care law. 

I'm not even going to pretend to be unbiased here, but the tone of the ad does strike me as positive and cheerful, and I think that "Be Not Afraid" is an excellent slogan for so much of what our country is facing right now. 

There's a broader foreign policy point here in this little 30 second ad. It is a wonderful thing to see the man who could become our next President so warmly received by a man who helped bring freedom to his country, willing to risk so much to make it happen. You can judge a man by the friends he keeps, and considering the warm reception Romney received from both Walesa and previously Benjamin Netanyahu in Israel, I am a lot more comfortable about his potential approach to foreign policy than that of the current President.

Walesa endorsed Romney last month, saying through a translator, "I wish you to be successful because this success is needed to the United States, of course, but to Europe and the rest of the world, too. Governor Romney, get your success, be successful!” 

Go get your success, Governor Romney. Be not afraid. Millions of Americans are counting on you.

Note: I'm on an email list now with Romney's digital response team and I seem to be getting these videos pretty early, around midnight, before most of the media seems to have them. (This video was still unlisted and had 18 views when I first watched it.) As long as the campaign is willing to send them out without restrictions, I'll do my best to post them as soon as I get them, or at least share them on Twitter. You are following me, aren't you?