Saturday, February 11, 2012
Obama, Catholics,Contraception and Abortafacients
This one is almost too good to be true. The Catholic intelligentsia in the US tends to swing liberal, and Catholics in general supported President Obama in 2008. And while they almost reflexively ignore church teachings on contraception, deep down, they don't want the Mother Church messed with. Now that the the misery of Obamacare--which many Catholic organizations supported--would (if the President had his way) force the Church to provide healthcare that included FREE contraception and abortafacients, there is insurrection among the faithful. I'm sure most of you have read about the President's "compromise" yesterday, in which He decreed that the Church/Church Hospitals and Schools would not have to pay, but that the insurance companies they retain would. On its face, this is ridiculous, as the costs of contraception and abortafacients would certainly not be borne by the insurance companies, but by the individual plan owners AND the employer (with whom they share costs.....The Mother Church. Cato has a great takedown of the reasoning behind the President's move here--and one can only hope that the Catholic church sticks to its guns on this one.
This has been a fascinating story to watch, and you have to wonder what the Obama team was thinking. (They are usually more politically nimble). I suspect they thought
ReplyDeleteA. the press will provide them cover on this and it will be a non-story or
B: it would be portrayed as strictly a contraception-not a religious liberty-issue and would allow them to look pro-woman next to those dinosaur Republicans.
This is more evidence to consider what a second Obama term-one in which he will NEVER AGAIN have to face voters-will look like.
What is disappointing here is that more GOP talking heads aren't excoriating the President for dictating to free American citizens that they must hand over, under penalty of government force, their private property to other citizens, without recompense, upon demand. I understand, though, the political capital to be made by distances the Catholic voters from this Administration so continuing to pound that drum makes sense. But it also ignores the former issue. We should pound on both fronts. The probable reality is that the insurers will simply raise the premiums of the Catholic entities so they'll end up paying for it after all. This is a gift to the Republican party from The One himself. It becomes clearer now why Bill Daley resigned--even a Chicago political thug couldn't stomach taking on the Catholic church.
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