From Jake Tapper and Jim G.: the president’s Catholic staffers can see the problem, even if the President can’t: (bold emphases are mine)
“What are we doing here?” asked Defense Secretary Leon Panetta, stepping outside his wheelhouse to ask about a rising storm involving the Obama administration and the Catholic Church. “What’s the point?”
It was the Fall of 2011 and Panetta had read about a proposed Obama administration rule that would require employers — excluding houses of worship but including religious organizations such as charities, hospitals, and schools — to offer health insurance that fully covered contraception.
Panetta — a Catholic, former U.S Representative, and White House chief of staff — didn’t quite understand why the Obama administration would be stepping into this conflict.
(Jim G: ) The Obama administration did not accidentally stumble into this controversy. It’s in it because some members of the White House staff — and ultimately, President Obama himself — wanted this controversy. They wanted to find those who they disagreed with them and to punish them, to force them to bend to their will. They’re absolutely certain that enough Americans feel so favorably about birth control that they will applaud the federal government forcing institutions to pay for it even if those institutions consider it a sin. In their minds, there is absolutely no reason significant enough for an employer to not pay for it, certainly nothing as obscure and intangible as a faith’s interpretation of the will of the Almighty. It pales in comparison to the will of the secretary of health and human services. (who is also a, ahem, ‘Catholic’.)
This controversy is another manifestation of the argument about the individual mandate. Life is full of good or popular things. The goodness or popularity of a particular good or service doesn’t mean Americans want their government telling them that they must purchase it.Obama has heard the controversy and is, so far, refusing to back down. His faith in his own infallibility is clear.
The other thing that gets me about all this? How totally unwilling people on the left are to see the Catholic side, and support Catholic (and other Christian) religious freedom. Can you imagine if Jews or Muslims felt like this? Do you think the President would push those buttons?
In a way, I’m sort of glad of this, because now no Catholic can say that he doesn’t know how the president feels about abortion and life issues. He’s not on our side–not even close. He doesn’t respect our right to practice our religion. If a Catholic votes for him in this election, then she needs to really think about how much being Catholic means to her. because it sure as hell doesn’t mean a lot to the president.