Why President Obama is prepared to sacrifice Catholic support
March 15, 2012
Why has President Obama pushing for the contraceptive mandate, even to the point of risking the wrath of the Catholic hierarchy during an election year? Janice Shaw Crouse of Concerned Women for America offers a potential answer.
In the 2008 election, Obama won overwhelming support among the voters motivated primarily by “women’s-rights” issues such as abortion and contraception. Polls show that unmarried women voted for Obama by a margin of more than 40%. The President needs continued solid support from that bloc for his re-election, Crouse argues, and to secure that support he is willing to sacrifice the votes of other groups whose loyalties are divided.
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Posted by: impossible -
Mar. 16, 2012 7:33 PM ET USA
Once more, it is imperative that the USCCB issue a straight-forward re-write of its Faithful Citizenship document at their Spring meeting. The answer is at the ballot box, and the paragraph 35 loophole, etc. that lets Catholics rationalize voting for pro-intrinsic evils supporting candidates needs to be corrected. No where in the document or the Introductory Note do the words "proportionate reasons" appear. The hypocrisy has to stop.
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Posted by: -
Mar. 16, 2012 2:55 AM ET USA
If the Catholic Church remains strong and true to its principals, and continues its vigorous public and “from-the-pulpit” opposition against Mr. Obama and his radical administration's HHS mandate, Mr. Obama is going to get the surprise of his life. All of those women's-rights voters that he may be expecting are not going to show up this time around. In fact many of those women who voted for him last time, are going to follow their conscience this time around and cast their vote accordingly. This is a (moral compass) fight for religious freedom, not a secular “rights” fight for free contraceptives and women’s health, and many women are beginning to understand this deep down. The more that the Church hammers away on this theme, that the actions of this administration are in the end, a direct attack on the Church, on each and every Catholic, and for that matter on all religions and people of faith, the more people (both women and men) will sense that this election is not so much about politics, but rather it’s about traditional American values, its about right vs. wrong. Seems farfetched I know, but then God works in strange ways, and something very unusual seems to be afoot. If we Catholics maintain our resolve then I believe that the Church will lead the way, and God will take care of the rest. Through faith in God all things are possible.
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Posted by: TheJournalist64 -
Mar. 15, 2012 5:50 PM ET USA
Yet his majesty's support among women has dropped rapidly in the wake of the mandate fight. Surveys show that what women want is their children. They instinctively know that artificial contraception is designed to keep them working moms, and they resent that loss of freedom to be "only" moms. The best gift I ever gave to my 3 daughters is allowing my wife to be with them.
